Day Seven: Aloha Hawaii

On Saturday, we had to head back to reality. Luckily our flight wasn't until 8 PM, so we hit Beach 69 again for an afternoon of relaxing. The beach was beautiful, yet again, and we spent the better part of the day just laying around. Late afternoon, we visited Kona to check out the town before heading to the airport. Lauren was excited to find the start/finish line of the Iron Man Championship, and Chip was excited to eat a snow cone the size of a basketball. Unfortunately, 8 o'clock crept closer, and eventually we had to head back to the airport. The flight home seemed to drag on forever... Lauren read an entire book, and Chip managed to vom in the LA airport. But finally, we made it back to Greenville. Hello reality.

Day Six: Under the Sea

Friday we headed out to Kona for a snorkeling adventure. Despite the early wake up we had a great time. We went out with Captian Liam and Sea Quest. We hit two snorkel spots and enjoyed a very scenic boat trip along the way. Our guide was great and the fish were amazing. We swam near Captain Cook Monument and one other location. Following our snorkel trip we went to Kona Brewing Company & Pub. It was a good place to grab a bite to eat and was highly recommended. We also were able to pick up a souvenirs. We then went back up toward our condo and spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing.

Day Five: Chillin

Thursday turned into our "chill out" day. La was feeling even worse than yesterday. Our day started out with a Hilton Grand Vacations sales pitch (b/c the "free gift" saved us couple hundred bucks on excursions). Our salesperson ended up being really nice and the meeting was much more tolerable than we anticipated. After that we grabbed a bite to eat and headed up to a pool on the resort. It was really nice but we didn't last long due to sprinkling rain and Lauren feeling badly. After laying around (Chip slept) for the latter half of the afternoon we wandered around the Kings Shops. All-in-all Thursday was slow and lazy, which was nice.

Day Four: Beach 69 and Luau

Wednesday we slept in a little and hung around the condo relaxing. Once we finally got going we packed up the Jeep and headed toward Beach 69 (which was highly recommended by numerous locals). The beach was absolutely gorgeous and could not have been more perfect. The water was crystal clear, fish were everywhere, and we had our own stretch of sand. Unfortunately Lauren started to feel a little sick so we went back to the resort and picked up some meds then laid by the pool. Later that night we went to a Luau put on by the Marriot Waikoloa Beach Resort. The set up was a little "Disney-land-ic" but the food was good and the dancing was entertaining. Once again however, Lauren's throat began to hurt so we left and were in bed before 10. Overall it was a very good day and we found a new favorite beach.

Day Three, Part Two: Dinner at KPC

Tuesday night we ate dinner at Kamuela Provision Company on the Hilton Waikoloa Beach Resort. The restaurant was recommended by mom and dad Klas and we also happened to meet the Executive Chef Charles at the airport in Kona. He set us up with a table on the water, some free appetizers, and two glasses of champagne. Our waiter, Chi, then hooked us up with two free deserts. All the perks made this $36 a plate restaurant much more feasible and worth the price. We had the best seat in the house and were able to enjoy the sun set over the Pacific.

Day Three, Part One: Waipio Valley

Day Three started at 6:30 AM... We woke up, debated a little about the proper attire, and then headed out the door for a 1.5 hour drive for a horseback ride through Waipio Valley. Once we arrived at Na'alapa Stables , we hopped into a Shuttle van with our tour gude, Keoni, to travel a mile down the road (did I mention it was a 1,000 feet drop?). Once down in the valley, we were assigned horses: Lauren was given Sunny, a sweet blonde, yet sometimes moody, horse; and Chip was given Big Black, a tall, dark, and handsome steed (seems like they matched us pretty well, huh?) ... then we were off to the trails. After 1.5 hours of sightseeing and trekking through the valley, we went to Jolene's Kau Kau Korner in the town of Honokaa. We also picked up a sweet new collar for Capers to add to her already robust collection (don't tell her, we want it to be a surprise). A picture of her sporting her new apparel will be uploaded upon our return to the mainland.

Day Two: Relax, Adjust, Get Sunburnt

Monday we woke up around 9 AM fully rested and ready to begin our week on the Big Island. We ate breakfast at the King's Club overlooking one of two golf courses on our resort. We then went to "A bay" just off the resort which allowed us to truly appreciate the beauty of the island. The near private beach had great snorkeling, awesome views, and the weather could not have been better. We saw a number of fish including the state fish of Hawai'i the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a (pictured below). Our final event of the afternoon was falling asleep by the pool near our condo (Chip had his back toward the sun and got burned). We then went to the grocery store and cooked dinner in our unit before falling asleep so we could get up early for our Horseback ride Tuesday.