The Morans Take on Kauai

After our wedding, Corey and I jetted off to Kauai for some rest, relaxation and fun in the sun. Neither of us had ever been there so we were very excited to check it out!

We stayed at the Kauai Marriott Resort & Beach Club, which was just a short drive from the airport. It was a great hotel which included 5 restaurants, a huge pool, a private beach right near the pool, several stores and a spa.

Since it was our honeymoon, we went all out on the activities to up the fun factor.

Day 1 was spent driving to Wailua Falls followed by an hour-long couples massage in a cabana on the beach. If you haven't had a massage on the beach before, I highly recommend it! There's nothing like relaxing while listening to the sound of the ocean.

Day 2 was spent at Secret Beach, a very beautiful deserted beach that is about a 10-minute hike to from the parking lot and then we headed off to Smith's Luau on a lovely 32-acre botanical garden.

On Day 3, we hit up a zipline tour through Kauai Backcountry Adventures. It was so much fun! The ziplines are set up in the middle of 200 private acres so it just us (a small group of about 12 zipliners) and the beautiful Kauai backcountry.

We spent Day 4 driving up to Waimea Canyon (the 'Grand Canyon of the Pacific'), which was amazing. We followed that up with a sunset dinner cruise on a huge catamaran. Though we weren't able to capture the sunset on film (it was a tad cloudy by that time), we had a blast and got soaked when we hit the large waves.

By Day 5, we were ready for some real rest and relaxation, so we spent almost 8 hours out in the sun. Both of us ended up slightly burnt, but we thoroughly enjoyed the day.

On Day 6, we drove over to Po'ipu to check out the Spouting Horn (a lava shelf that water spurts up through) and then to Kalaheo to get some of the best pizza on the island from Brick Oven Pizza to get some lunch.

During our stay, we ate dinner at some great restaurants (Gaylord's, Mema's and Cafe Portofino to name a few), got some great photos and had a truly memorable experience. Needless to say, going back to work yesterday was just a tad hard...:)

Here is one of my favorite pics from our honeymoon. To view the rest of my photos, check out my Flickr site. If you're looking for some really good photos, you'll have to check out my husband's site.



Can't be too safe when ziplining.

My awesome team at work bought us a video camera as a wedding gift (they totally spoiled us!) so we put it to good use at the wedding and on our honeymoon. Here's a video of Wailua Falls:



Several tips / fun facts regarding Kauai:

• It rains / mists almost every day, though it usually just lasts 5-10 minutes.
• PT Cruiser rental cars are very popular. We were lucky enough to snag a BRIGHT blue one.
• The Ultimate Kauai Guidebook will be the only map / sightseeing guide you need. This is a fabulous resource for any of you planning to go to Kauai (thanks to the Reeders for letting us borrow theirs!).
• There is a ton of sightseeing to be done in Kauai. You'll want to figure out your top attractions on each side of the island (using your Ultimate Kauai Guidebook, of course!) and try to to get to each side of the island on separate days.