July 23, 2009

Picking up where I left off, our honeymoon consisted of three destinations.  First, we stopped on the island of Oahu and stayed in Honolulu for three nights.  We stayed at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, which is a great property right on the beach.  Dominic Raiola, our starting center, is from Hawaii and happened to be back home with his family.  Being locals, he and his wife showed us amazing parts of the island we would not have seen.  I even tried that stand-up paddle while I was there, and it was frickin’ hard.  Especially when the waves started coming in on top of you.  

After that we jumped islands over to Maui and stayed at the Ritz in Kapalua.  That was such a gorgeous island, and a much different feel than Honolulu, but both islands were awesome in their own way.  While on Maui we took a helicopter ride over the island, went snorkeling, saw a sunset cruise, went to a luau, and went on a zip line.  Not to mention we took the road to Hana, which was an adventure all in itself.  We did so many great things there and the weather was awesome every single day.  Not to forget the stunning views right at the Ritz, it has to be one of the nicest hotels I have ever seen. 

From Maui we decided to break the trip up and stop in a place I have been dying to go to for some time, Napa.  And boy did it live up to my expectations.  A winemaker by the name of Ryan Waugh planned out our entire trip.  He has two different labels of wine that I highly recommend, Waugh Cellars and Six Degrees.  So anyway, he was kind enough to help set up everything, and he knew the ins and outs of the valley.  We ended up going to 10 different wineries, all of which had different things to offer.  My wine cellar is now at full capacity, so that means one of two things.  Either start drinking or make more room. I like both options.  

Though the trip was amazing, after two weeks on the road I was ready to get home to see my dogs and sleep in my own bed.  Unfortuantely, that was only for two nights.

That Wednesday we headed up to Northern Michigan to a wedding for my old teammate at MSU and long-time friend, Gordon Niebylski.  I was the best man in an amazing wedding held at Bay Harbor.  But having little time, coming up with a best man speech was not as easy as I had anticipated.  The weather report said rain all week, but it held off for the ceremony and turned out to be a great day by the end.  The reception was great, as any time you get our whole group together we tend to have fun.  

Following that we went to Grand Rapids for the night and stayed with my parents before the High 5ive golf outing.

The golf outing ended up going smoothly.  There were a couple hiccups along the way, but that seems to always be the case.  And with such an action-packed summer I did not have as much involvement in the set-up process.  My mother and father did a lot of work on behalf of my foundation and did a fantastic job with it.  Danielle from Cystic Fibrosis was the one tutoring us along the way, as we partner with CF to raise money.  After going through the event, we learned so much.  If you have any interest in getting involved next year or know of sponsor interest, check out www.high5ivefoundation.org.

Well that about finishes my story of the past month.  Now I have become strictly focused on football for the time being.  I have been going into the facility to work out, watch film, and get ready for next week.  I look forward to the season and all of the unknowns that lie ahead.  I will share those thoughts and ideas with you guys next week, so for now have a good weekend.

Drew Stanton is a quarterback with the Detroit Lions. His blog for www.playerpress.com runs at www.drewstanton.com. Follow him on Twitter as drewstanton.