Honeymoon: We only had to go to the ER once!

Well, as soon as I get the pictures from the wedding, I will put a whole post about that, but in the meantime, let me fill you in on our honeymoon in Maui! We left on the Monday after our wedding, which allowed for plenty of time to open gifts, move them to Otsego, and pack for the honeymoon.  We got to the airport and got on our plane without a hitch, which was a relief after our Treacherous Trip to Tokyo (see what I did with the alliteration there?  Grandma Dee would be proud!).  Anyways, we had a two hour layover in LA, where we sat next to a guy who claimed to be a baseball hall of famer...but upon further google research and a call to Mike's brother who knows everything sports, we decided that he was probably lying to us.  He did have the hall of fame ring, though, but nothing else matched up! Anyways, from there on we got to Maui and landed at about 8:30 pm on Monday: Hawaii time.  We got a car upgrade, which was nice, and then got a room upgrade because we were on our honeymoon, plus a champagne toast.  Here's a view of the pool with the ocean in the background...Pretty nice!

 Mike decided to take ukulele lessons the next day, and was a natural.  The lady on the right is our instructor, and the lady on the right was another student, from the East Coast.  She said things like "Chowda" and "Lobsta" a lot, which I thought was funny.

 Mike, studying hard:

 He learned how to play twinkle twinkle little star:

 While he was learning, I may have strayed a little.  Here's a view of a part of the "lazy river" that went around one of the bars at our resort.  In the background you can see the ocean and the island of Molokai.

Mike, rocking in the free world:

We were about 50 years younger than everyone else...and they were all having a hard time, but loved Mike!

Awww...our feet?!

 Finally we got the towel guy to take this picture of us before we got in the pool:

 And here's part of the pool...pure bliss!

 Especially when you add a mai tai!

 Our room is the second balcony up:

 We had an amazing view from our room!

 We spent the rest of our first day relaxing poolside and sampling mai tais...not a bad way to spend a day! On Wednesday we headed out into the ocean and snorkeled for about an hour.  It was fun, and we got the chance to swim with a sea turtle, who was huge! We got stuck in some brutal waves on the swim back in, and ended up with sand EVERYWHERE.  Not so much fun, but we laughed it off and all was well.  It took about four showers and 3 days for the sand to be completely gone...but it wasn't so bad. We ended Wednesday night at the Luau that took place at our hotel.  It was a lot of fun! We were greeted with fresh leis and mai tais upon arrival, and they had an open bar and a huge buffet with typical Luau food.  A sort of strange Australian couple in front of us offered to take our picture, so we agreed!

 The line was pretty long:

 But the views from the line were great!

 After awhile, we were getting a little sketched out by the couple in front of us, and how long it was taking...

 We finally got in...doesn't Mike look cute in a Lei?

They even roasted the pig right there in the ground..which was a little gross for me, but had a delicious end result. We both tried poi for the first time, which is taro root mashed down into a paste...it was not great, but apparently is a luau staple, so we had to try it.  

 Here they are pulling the pig out of the ground:

 Carrying it to the kitchen:

After dinner, they began a show that was really amazing.  They had dancers that did different dances from all over polynesia, and then some! It was really hard to get a picture because they moved so fast, but I tried!

My favorite part was when they got the male honeymooners on stage to practice hula...Mike was not too thrilled, but he did it! What a good sport!  Here he is walking to the stage:

It's blurry, but you can see him on the far right, trying to worm his way into the back.  So cute! There were so many newlyweds there, that it was pretty easy for him to blend in. 

Then, the hula dancers came back on:

 And we were done! Almost everyone at our table was on their honeymoon, which was kind of cool.  We had a great night, but were both stuffed after the whole thing!  The food was great (besides the poi).


Thursday we headed up north to check out the "dragons teeth" which is a lava and sea formation that looks like jagged teeth.

 It was at that point that we realized that we weren't really up for adventures, so we headed back to the car and found Maui Brewing Company, where Mike was delighted to find a ton of IPAs to try.  I can't stand IPAs, but they luckily had some other beer for me to try.  We bought a growler to take home with us and headed back to the resort.  One of my favorite things to do was watch the sunset on our deck (or Lanai, as they are called in Hawaii), with Mike.  We brought a few games to play with, so that was a fun way to enjoy the sunset (plus some adult beverages, of course).

 Here's Mike, after a few beers and a few games of skip bo:

On Friday, we headed into Lahaina, which is a really cute but really touristy town.  We came across these ladies desperately looking for pearls...kind of funny but eventually kind of sad...

 Lahaina is one of the only towns in Maui that still has a historical downtown area and a sea walk. It was really pretty, but also really touristy, so we were glad that we got there early before all the crowds hit:

 They had a banyan tree that was ENORMOUS in front of the old courthouse, and Mike loved all of the history.

 That's all one tree!

 Here we have an ancient fortress that is sort of still standing...and Mike!

 One last shot of the giant Banyan tree...and the sea walk!

 On Saturday we decided to take a recommendation from our guide book and head to Warren and Annabelle's Magic show.  It was so much fun! It sounds corny when you say magic show, but it was definitely not. You start by sitting in a parlor with Annabelle, who is a piano playing ghost (I know, still sounds corny, but it was fun! If you wanted to hear a song you just yelled it out and she would play it!).  We enjoyed some drinks and then headed into a small 50 person theater, which is where Warren did his magic.  It was absolutely unbelievable, and I have no idea how he did some of the stuff that the did...well, all of the stuff that he did! He was also a bit of a comedian, and kept us laughing for the whole 2 hour show! It was a lot of fun, and based on the tricks he did, I can only conclude that he is not from this world.
After that, we headed to a restaurant for dinner that was right on the ocean.  It was a beautiful place, and had a great atmosphere.  All was well until about 15 minutes into our meal.  After his first bite of steak, Mike started throwing up uncontrollably, everywhere.  He kept saying that he couldn't swallow, but he seemed to breathe ok, so we didn't think it was an allergic reaction (to those who don't know, he's allergic to fish, eggs, peas, and raw carrots).  When he usually has a reaction, he can't breathe, so this was different.  After the manager came over and ushered us into a private bathroom, the first responders showed up, who turned out to be some firefighters who really knew nothing. About 15 minutes later, the paramedics showed up.  He was still vomiting uncontrollably, so they loaded him up into the ambulance on the crowded street full of gawkers, and pulled off to another side street to discuss what we needed to do.
It was at this point that we found out that the only hospital on the island of Maui was 45 minutes away, and the only way to get there was by car on a long, winding road which runs along the ocean and many cliffs.  I then realized that for some reason Mike had left his insurance card in the hotel room, and we had also left our rental car there, because the resort had a free shuttle to Lahaina which we had taken in.   Without the insurance card, Mike wouldn't have been covered, and without the car, we wouldn't have had a way to make the 45 minute trip back to the resort.
It was extremely hard to leave Mike in the back of the ambulance, throwing up, but I knew it was what we needed to do.  One of the paramedics walked me to a cab because apparently we were in a rough part of town and he wanted to make sure I was ok.  I took the 20 minute cab ride back to the resort, and stopped by the concierge stand, where I received possibly the worst directions ever...but the guy "honestly only knew the Hawaiian names of roads, not the numbers, brah!"...so I walked away, punched "hospital" in my phone, and took off after grabbing Mike's insurance card.
I started on the winding road towards the hospital, and my phone promptly told me that it was impossible to get to the hospital.  At this point I realized that it was trying to take me to a different island, which, as the crow flies, was closer!  However, that wasn't where I needed to go!  I panicked a little, considered calling my mom, realized it was 3 AM in Minnesota, and decided that I would try to at least get to the town the hospital was in first, which, as the dim-witted concierge had told me, was "the big town with the airport".
I drove along the highway, white knuckled, shaking, and totally freaked out because I hadn't heard from Mike since I had left him the back of the ambulance.  After 30 minutes of winding roads along the coast, I finally saw a sign that pointed to the airport.  On a whim, I followed the sign, and then after 15 more minutes, I saw a blue "H" sign that pointed to the hospital.  15 minutes after that, I was parking in the hospital parking lot.  Now I know how it was before GPS' were invented...terrifying and uncertain. I would give that a big old thanks but no thanks!
After I got in the hospital, they made me fill out about 20 minutes of paperwork since they needed his proof of insurance.  Finally, I was able to see him, and after 2 hours of continuously throwing up, he had finally stopped.
The doctors think that he had a minor allergic reaction which caused his esophagus to swell slightly, and then when he had that first bite of steak it became stuck in his esophagus, which triggered his gag reflex.  It wasn't until they gave him medicine to stop his vomiting that he could swallow enough water to push the steak down, and then he magically stopped throwing up!  It was definitely the scariest moment we've had together, and one that I hope we never have to go through again.   I'm so glad he's ok!

We got back to the resort at 2 in the morning, and slept in the next day.
The rest of the weekend: we relaxed, and Mike was on a soft food diet in case any swelling remained.  We got him some applesauce, pudding, and yogurt, and even though he wasn't happy about it, I was happy that I didn't have to worry about another ambulance trip.
On Monday, our last day, we drove around the island and took in the sights, as our check out at the resort was at 11, but our plane wasn't until 10! Here are some parting sunset pictures:

We got home, picked up Norman, and have been unpacking and settling into "reality" ever since!