We're so fancy, we stayed at The Four Seasons

The island of Lana'i makes island number 5 for our tour of the Hawaiian islands.  And this trip was the easiest one to plan since we knew exactly where we wanted to stay - the Four Seasons Lodge at Koele - and the biggest decisions were:  how many days should we travel and how many days do we need to rent a Jeep.

Lana'i measures 18 miles long by 12 miles across. The highest elevation is 3,300 feet and it has a population of about 3,000 residents, nearly all of whom live in Lana'i City, an action-packed metroplis.  Excluding the roads in Lana'i City, there are only three paved main roads on the island. 









Upon arrival at the Lodge we were given leis and pineapple juice while we waited to check in to our room.

The pastry chefs were working hard to finish assembling a gingerbread Lana'i City.  The hotel would auction off buildings the next day.  The setup was impressively large and smelled deliciously of chocolate.

The hotel had:

an "executive putting green", which we played quite terribly,

British and American croquet (whatever that means; we made up our own rules),

an orchid house,

a pagoda,

and a resident cat, Koele.

We liked to sit by the fire and read or play games with a $7 mug of hot cocoa.

A is so excited to be staying at the Four Seasons!

At the pool we were offered cold towels.  Alas, it was not hot enough to receive cucumber slices for our eyes or spritzes of Evian.

View from the lanai on Lana'i.

We were lucky enough to have a food & beverage credit so we could enjoy the "casual" restaurant.  The formal dining room required a jacket and closed-toe shoes.  But in Hawaii, this is as dressed up as we get.