Flashback Friday: Hawaiian honeymoon

Who says reminiscing has to be reserved for Fridays, right?  Flashback Saturday anyone?  Today is my birthday, so try and let it slide…  While I huff and puff my heavily candled (28!!) vegan birthday cake, I hope you’ll enjoy reading about our tropical luna de miel.

Kyle and I got married on Saturday, August 28th.

On Monday the 30th we headed off to Kauai for the most relaxing week of vacation ever.  Our trip started at 4 am (Pacific time), and we didn’t arrive in Hawaii until 5 pm (Island time).  In case you were wondering those 16 hours of travel included 3 layovers, but who’s counting.

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I had shiny bling to keep me occupied (and Vanity Fair).

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I wore a heart shirt on purpose because I’m that cheesy.  🙂

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Here we are in the Enterprise van, so excited to finally be in Hawaii!

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We stayed at the Grand Hyatt Kauai Resort and Spa.  As if being a newlywed in Hawaii wasn’t perfect enough, this hotel took it above and beyond my wildest dreams.  It was truly the kind of setting that makes you feel like you are in heaven.

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We got lei-ed upon arrival…

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And when we got to the room, we had champagne on ice with a sweet note of congratulations!

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We popped it right away and enjoyed the bubbly on our porch (which happened to open up right onto the hotel’s beach front property).

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I mean seriously, does life get better than this?  I don’t see how it could…

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Since it was dinner time (in some time zone) we ordered room service – also to enjoy on the porch.

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Fluffy rolls.

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My Mahi Mahi

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Kyle’s Salmon

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Cheers!

The Hyatt’s room service was awesome.  They were completely willing to do dairy-free (aka butter free) preparations of the fish, veggies, rice, whatever.  Anything and everything we needed they were able to accommodate.  We actually ended up ordering room service a few times throughout the week because it was so easy and delicious.

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Now, since I know I’ll get questions about my diet and being vegan on the honeymoon…

As much as I’d like to say wait and see…I’d rather explain things up front than repeatedly answer the same question in the comments section.

As I’ve said many times, I don’t like labels.  I’d prefer not to be defined by how I eat, and although “vegan” is the closest way to describe my diet, it’s not quite right.  There are loop holes, caveats, and exceptions that sound far more complicated when written out.  But as I’ve mentioned before, my GI system is what drives all my dietary decisions.  I’m lactose intolerant, so being dairy free will never change.  Eating fish, however, is a different story.  Since returning to the West Coast, fish is something I’ve found myself being more open to (with very specific requirements).  On the East Coast, I had zero interest, but now that I’m closer to sustainable sources of fresh, responsibly caught fish, I’ve decided to order it if I want it.  As you’ll see in the coming posts, I only had it a few times on the island.  Aside from that, I ate the same as I always have on our honeymoon with ease.  Ya dig?

The next day we slept in and brunched at the hotel.

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Ilima Terrace has a brunch buffet which is pretty expensive.  Although the view is hard to beat (seriously, a swan?), I’m not sure the price was worth it (in terms of the food).  For the record, this was the only negative thing we had to say about the hotel.  As a whole, the hotel’s services were exceptional from arrival to departure, and this pricey meal was only a blip on the radar.

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Veggie omelet

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Taters, bacon, apple, pear, and a baked tortilla dish.

Unpictured: two carafes of coffee

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Definitely soaked up the views and made brunch a long lasting affair…

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Followed by some swimming in the salt water pool.

And tropical drinks.

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And ring admiring.  😉

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Blang blang.

While poolside, I browsed The Dock’s menu and vegan-ized one of the salads.

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Greens with grilled tofu, mango, strawberries, avocado, cucumber, slivered almonds, sesame seeds, and a soy dressing on the side.

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Not too shabby for a highly substituted order!

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For dinner, we enjoyed yet another Hyatt restaurant.

Tidepools is a restaurant of open air thatched huts surrounded by waterfalls and koi-filled lagoons, so you are literally eating on the water.

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Nothing sets the mood like bread and wine.

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If that sounded sarcastic (or sacrilege), it definitely wasn’t meant to be.  Carbs and vino are among my favorite things in life.

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Kyle’s shrimp, fish, and fried crab ball.

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My Ono.

And that’s about as specific as I can be (it’s hard to remember exact orders from August).

I do remember clearing my plate and I do remember that I got a side of udon noodles as well.

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Never one to fall behind in courses, Kyle ordered dessert.

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It was chocolate filled with more chocolate.  Warm on the inside with ice cream on top…

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Clearly he hated it.  😉  And that concludes day 1 of our heavenly honeymoon…

For the married ladies, where did you honeymoon?  And for the unwed misses, where is your dream honeymoon location?

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Comments (24)

  1. VeggieGirl

    BEAUUUUUUTIFUL wedding and memories.

    Dream honeymoon location = anywhere my husband is (I know, I’m lame, haha 😉 ).

  2. Ada

    That looks like such a great honeymoon! It’s always been my dream to go to Hawaii. Happy birthday girlie!!!

  3. KatieF

    My husband and I honeymooned in Italy. We flew into Venice, spent a few days there, then to Florence (where we were when Italy won the 2006 World Cup! The insanity was unreal–I’ve never seen anything like it), then to Rome, then we went to Sorrento, which is on the coast a little south of Naples. We did a lot of sightseeing and walking in the first three cities. When we got to Sorrento, we checked into our hotel (which sat on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean) and proceeded to spend our last few days doing nothing but laying on the beach. Except for maybe a trip or two to get gelato. 🙂 It was perfect.

  4. Ashley

    Looks like such a great honeymoon so far. Can’t wait for the rest. My dream honeymoon is to Bora Bora. Maybe one day! Happy Birthday!

  5. rebecca lustig

    honeymoon of dreams!!

    happy birthday lovelyyyy 🙂

  6. Meg

    Aww this is beautiful! 😀

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

  7. Courtney Craig

    My husband and I celebrated our honeymoon with a 3-week trip to Australia (Sydney, Great Barrier Reef area, and Tasmania). We loved it so much that the day he found out he was accepted into the University of New South Wales (in Sydney) study abroad program (while he was at UCLA-Anderson), we popped open the 1 bottle of wine we purchased in Aus on our honeymoon & celebrated our return to Australia! We lived there for 4.5 glorious months during Year 2 of his Anderson program. Highly recommended if you & Kyle can break away from Cali for a few months!

  8. Courtney Craig

    Oh, and Happy 28th Birthday! You are too young!!!

  9. lika

    Elise, All the food looked so delicious and brought back a lot of memories. We honeymooned in Kuaui too! 🙂

    Happy Bday girl!

  10. Carbzilla

    Happy Bday! Hope you’re feeling better!

    We honeymooned at Disneyworld, and I gained 5 lbs. I wasn’t eating like I do now, and I didn’t realize that entrees were just to huge for me. I was stuffed the entire time. But we still had a fantastic time.

  11. Jess

    Happy Birthday! I definitely want to go somewhere tropical and relaxing that I haven’t been for my honeymoon but I’m not sure where. Maybe St. Lucia?

  12. Gabriela @ Une Vie Saine

    Gorgeous gorgeous gorgeous. My dream honeymoon would either be Fiji or Paris- pretty different, but I have a few years to decide 😉

    Happy birthday!!

  13. Kimberley

    I have heard that Kauai is heaven on earth. I can’t wait to go there but from the east coast the flights are (even more) brutal.

    We got married in Costa Rica and then did a 10 day safari in Kenya and Tanzania. I may still be driving an old ass car because of it, but it was WELL worth the expense! 🙂

    Happy Birthday to you!

  14. Babs

    A month from today I’ll be on my honeymoon! AHHHHHHHHH . . . can ya tell I’m a *wee* bit excited? We’ll be honeymooning on Fafe Island off the coast of Tonga 🙂 It’s a private island with only 13 huts. It’s going to be unlike any vacation I have ever taken. Woot, woot

  15. cbrady3

    Happy Birthday!!! October babies are the best:)

    I would lovea beach honeymoon, but think somewhere on the mediterranean would be a nice change up from the usual caribbean.

    My boyfriend always says his honeymoon will be in Santorini, Greece….so we’ll see! 😉

  16. Monique

    We honeymooned in Orlando. It was fun, but I’m still waiting for my blissful beach vacation. Someday …

    And Happy Birthday!! 🙂

  17. Averie (LoveVeggiesAndYoga)

    just popping in to say i love the “disclaimer” and i remember your other post very well, the i dont like to label myself post. Amen. Too many nuances to try to describe and fit into a neat little box…i totally get it!

    Glad you guys had a ball on the honeymoon 🙂

    We got married in Vegas. Our honeymoon was the rest of the trip in Vegas and we always planned to go to Hawaii but that was 10 yrs ago and never did. But we go to aruba every year instead 🙂

  18. maike@letslearntofeelfree.blogspot.com/

    It seems you picked a great location for those special days. And the food looks great! i don´t like to be labeld either even though i eat mostly plant based..i enjoy eating foods from where i travell too when the source is responsible enough…Beautiful post, thanks for sharing

  19. Graze With Me

    We went to San Francisco for a week and it was amazing. I think I came back 8 lbs heavier than I was on our wedding day. 😉

    Love the bling!

  20. elise

    haha…rice-a-roni and sourdough bread…oh how i love SF

  21. elise

    ive never been to aruba, but you should definitely get to hawaii…its awesomeeeeeee

  22. inmytummy

    I went to Maui for my honeymoon. Looks a lot like yours!

  23. Joy

    What a great honeymoon.
    Ours was at Disney and when I read about amazing trips (like yours) I always have a pang of “we should have done a better/more exotic trip” and then I remember what a great time we had and how happy we were/are and all is well again on “we street”

  24. Janetha G - meals & moves

    I love the post! I want to go on your honeymoon. If you go on a second one, invite me. Love your florescent swimsuit! Hot mama.

Comments are closed.