Paradise Part I (The Resort)

Saturday, November 13th started out with the car service picking us up from the Coleman's bright and early at 7 am. After killing some time with trashy mags and bloody marys at the airport we boarded our flight and just 5 hours later landed in Paradise. We rented a large SUV for the week and began the 30 minute drive to the resort, enjoying the warm and humid air and chatting excitedly about everything we wanted to do during the week. We made a pit stop at Safeway to stock up on essentials (like vodka) and then pulled into the resort. This place was amazingly beautiful (see more here. ). We were on the 9th floor with an ocean view. It was a 2 bedroom, 2 bathroom villa with 2 lanais looking out over the pools and the water. We had a full kitchen and washer and dryer...it was the nicest diggs I've ever stayed in while on vacation! The best part of a vacation is that first day when you think of all the time you have ahead of you to relax and enjoy and going home seems so far away. You realize that you get to sleep in for the next 7 days and eat good food and enjoy tropical cocktails any time of the day (in fact it is encouraged to drink before noon while on vacation). We unpacked, whirled up a few cocktails and emptied our heads of any thoughts of home or work.

Jeff coming out of the water slide

The Colemans and The Boeders dressed up for dinner at Chuck's

Enjoying a key lime colada by one of the pools

Beautiful sunsets were seen every night from our Lanai

The Colemans enjoying the lagoon which was perfect for swimming

A view of our kitchen, living room and lanai

Daytime view of the pools, lagoon and ocean from the villa

The resort had several restaurants on site, a running path, several swimming pools, 4 lagoons, a golf course and a market. There really was no need to ever leave the place except for occasional trips to Safeway. We ended up making all our breakfast and lunches at the villa which was convenient and saved quite a bit of money and then would go out for dinner at night. At the beginning of the week we were ambitious and would get up and run or walk the 3 mile loop that wrapped around the lagoons along the resorts edge. By the end of the week as the cocktails and full bellies caught up to us we weren't so ambitious. Because of the 2 hour time difference we were pretty much up at 7 am most days and in bed by 10 most nights. The weather was a perfect 83 degrees everyday and the clear, blue water and sandy beach was most inviting. The main pool had a water slide which was our preferred method of getting in the water. More often than not we were the only grown ups in line for the slide but the kids in line took to us once Jamey started giving them tips on how to get down the slide more quickly (cross your legs and arch your back!). Because of the time of year and probably the economy the resort was pretty quiet. We never had a problem finding a lounge chair by the pool or the lagoon and never needed a reservation at any of the restaurants. The Colemans found a gem of a place to purchase a timeshare and we are eternally grateful that they let us join them. More to come next post!