Here's some shots of Front Royal and the vacation pad.


















The official Front Royal welcoming committee.


















Signs like this are all over town, and Virginia. So much history in a little space.


















It felt like fall, not November in Front Royal. Most of the trees still had leaves.























The downtown sundial of the "Canoe Capitol of the World" says its lunchtime.


















My tour guide of Front Royal...the ambassador of coolness.























Skyline High School, where Sam teaches looks a lot like a college building. Impressive.


















Working off the turkey...not by shoveling snow, but by raking leaves.








































Jeni and I walked down to the Potomac river on Thanksgiving morning.


















The river was very peaceful.

Skyline drive...better than we could have imagined. Here's the town of Front Royal from mile two.


















A smile from our great Hostess.


















Nice doo rags. Oops. Mik forgot his helmet.


















Forty minute climb. 5 minute descent. Time to get started.

On our trip to Virginia we visited the Luray Caverns, the biggest caverns in the area, with impressive depths and views. The Mirror Lake was only an optical illusion. The water at the bottom is only a few inches deep, but the reflection made it look much deeper.
















































































The caverns boast the worlds largest musical instrument, a giant pipe organ, made with stalagtites and stalagmites. It plays multiple tunes, including Happy Birthday.



































Pictures don't do it justice....the stalagtites and stalagmites were amazing.








































This is the Wishing Well, the donations from this go to charities around the country.

A few clips from today's race at the Chocolay Ace Hardware training center.

Goodbye sweet Hawaii. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery, the tastes and smells. It was fitting that our last glance was the majestic Mauna Kea volcano, the tallest and most active volcano in the world.


















Hualali is the island's third youngest volcano and produced the lava flows that we landed on at the Kona International Airport.


















There are over 200 coffee farms along the Kona coast. We stopped at one to check out the process and buy some 100% Kona coffee to bring home.























The coffee we drink is actually the seed of the coffee bean. This is what it looks like before it's roasted.


















Jeni's favorite photo of the trip. This gecco came within inches of our lunch plates.


















While Erik competed in the Ironman, Jeni and I hung out in town...enjoying the beautiful weather.


















If there is a World Champion cinnamon roll, this one from the Lava Java cafe in Kailua-Kona would win. It was the biggest and most delicious Jeni and I have ever eaten.


















The coral reef gouged up Mik's foot, and this volunteer firefighter helped bandage it up.























The guy in the sweater owned the surfboard rental shop, and as it turned out he was also a doctor....a doctor that played ukele..."you'll live to see another day."


















Escaping from it all? We might have been nearly 3,000 miles from home, but cell phones kept everyone plugged in.


















The last sunset of the trip. It was hard to say goodbye to the sights, sounds of smells of paradise.

The day after the Ironman, the gang headed to Kealakekua Bay, about 20 miles south of Kailua-Kona for a morning of snorkeling in paradise.




















































The waves crashed in all morning, making it difficult to snorkel for too long. But they were fun to play in.



































Nicole Lepinski and Chris Harvey put on their fins...Mik is ready.


















Erik Hemstead wasted no time, hitting the water first.


















Mik looks at the fishies and coral reef.




















































Another day... another beach.


















Mik has nearly mastered Stand Up Paddleboarding, and starts to catch waves.








































Jeni heads out to try her hand at Stand Up Paddleboarding.



































Balancing turns out to be tiring on the legs.


















Jeni about to stand up...she did it, but we didn't catch it on camera.


















Mik catches a wave to top off the day. Woot. woot.