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When my family heard that we were traveling to Carmel-by-the-Sea, my uncle told us that our aunts claimed: You haven’t been to Carmel-by-the-Sea until you’ve shopped it! I fully recommend the bangers & mash (for those that don’t like mustard, it is barely noticeable, e.g. Jon) as well as the grilled cheese & tomato bisque. Right on the main street through town, this little coffee place offers some good beverages, a few bakery items, and a nice place to take a rest break between browsing all of the shops. Inside we found abundant cases filled with chocolate truffles, chocolate cups, chocolate covered fruit, and chocolate bars.

If you know a couple months in advance that you’ll be going to Maui, you can make your reservations as far 60 days out. Also known as the Death Highway, the West Maui Highway wraps around from Kaanapali to Kahului (the opposite side of the island from the Backside of Hana). The road is much shorter than the Road to Hana, so you can do it in just a couple hours, including stops at the Nakalele Blowhole, Olivine Pools, and at Julia’s Banana Bread stand. A cute little historic town in West Maui with lots of small shops and plenty of food options.

It is a ridge trail, which means lots of uphill hiking with steep dropoffs, though none nearly as scary as the Moanalua Middle Ridge Trail on Oahu. Be sure to get there early though, as the first parking lot fills up early and the overflow parking lot is quite a ways further down the hill. It’s not much of a hike to reach the black sand beach, just down a few steps from the parking lot. Even though it isn’t far from the southern end of the Hana Highway, you’ll have to drive all the way back up to Kihei and then all the way down “

This quirky coffee shop inside an old gas station serves up tasty coffee as well as breakfast and lunch. Bad Ass Coffee Company – Serving up Kona coffee, Bad Ass Coffee is a staple for any Hawaii trip. Sugar Beach Bakeshop – You can’t go wrong with any of the sweet treats at Sugar Beach Bakeshop, but if we had to choose, Jon’s favorite was the caramel apple cheesecake and mine was the sweet potato haupia pie, a truly tropical dessert! I got chocolate coconut cookies with coconut ice cream while Jon had chocolate chip cookies with macnut ice cream.