A very early start to our day as our flight was at 6am, which meant we had to leave Ken's by about 3:50. The week had been very long for both of us, and we were not looking forward to the wake up time. Ken had very full week with meetings and work functions in the evenings, while I had lots of work and a quick trip to Midland to help Ashley (my oldest) who was sick. Nevertheless, we hauled ourselves up, taking solace that by the evening we would be hula'ing away on Kauai.
 
Our first flight was to Denver and it was on an old 757-200, where the entertainment systems drop down from the ceiling. Since it was so early and a short 2 hour flight, it wasn't a big deal.  However, when we boarded our flight to Lihue we were in an identical OLD plane. For those who have read my Peru blog, you may remember my rant about blowing miles for first class seats on an old airplane. I will spare everyone this time, but knowing what MOST planes offer for amenities...seats with foot rests that actually recline, entertainment systems, etc it is aggravating to be stuck for 7 hours in an uncomfortable seat with limited entertainment.  Get with the program United Airlines and retire these dinosaurs. At least the flight crew was nice and I got to watch the movie "42" about Jackie Robinson, which was awesome (albeit from the little TV's that drop down from the ceiling).
 
After 12 hours of travel, we landed in beautiful Lihue, Kauai.  When we got to baggage claim, we were greeted with a person holding our names up, who then presented us with beautiful traditional Hawaiian leis. After what seemed like an eternity, we got our luggage, picked up our car (cute red convertible!) and found our way to the the Grand Hyatt Kauai.  

After checking in we hit the hotel beach cafe as we were both starving. We had breakfast 3x on the way over, so we were overdue for something more substantial. In addition to being hungry, we were both a bit dazed, as it was only 3p local, but 8pm in Houston. After food, NAP time. After a very sound 1.5 hour sleep, we had great asperations of hitting the gym and working out the travel kinks. Uh yeah, right...like that was going to happen. We did however FIND the gym and it had great potential for the rest of the week, just not today. After exploring the resort, it was time for a patio over looking the ocean and adult beverages. A perfect ending to the start of a great trip.