I was sleeping so hard on Saturday morning that I didn't hear the alarm go off. Thankfully the wild roosters woke us up with their crowing at 6:15! We enjoyed another wonderful breakfast up at the main house--I have never drunk so much coffee or eaten so much fruit in my life. Delicious!
Tomkin and I packed up a cooler and headed north toward
Waimea. We stopped at a shopping center and picked up a couple souvenirs.
Then we decided to get an early lunch at a roadside place called
Huli Sue's. (Thank goodness for our excellent guidebooks and Tomkin's pre-travel research!)
I got a BBQ pork sandwich that came with fries, coleslaw, and one huge onion ring. WOW, was it good. Tomkin got a stuffed baked potato and coleslaw. Really cute place, and we loved the food.
We left about noon and headed toward
Dahana Ranch (we had reservations to go horseback riding).
It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere! Thank goodness we had our GPS. We were greeted by a bunch of happy dogs, a couple of whom joined us for the ride.
Our guide was PK, who had grown up working on the ranch, escaped to Texas for five years, then returned to the family business just two months before because, he said, working in an office didn't turn out to be as fun as he thought it would be.
In addition to me and Tomkin, the other riders were a mom and daughter from Oregon and two parents and their two young sons from San Diego. (The boys' horses were attached to PK's horse throughout the ride.) PK got us all saddled up; my horse's name was Kailua, and Tomkin's was Skip.
We set out on the range, and we were instructed to
not stay in a line. Dahana Ranch is a working cattle ranch with thousands of acres, and the horses are working horses (not trail horses). The ranchers want the horses to stay active and engaged and always be thinking. That took some work on our parts! The horses definitely wanted to follow each other or walk along a cattle path, if one was available.
So we had to instruct them to spread out, go up and down hills, veer around cattle, and occasionally speed up or slow down. I've never been on a ride like that before--it was amazing.
PK told us about the ranch and the land (his grandfather planted all the grass, which was from New Zealand, back in 1951) and gave us lots of tips and advice about riding horses.
For a while we all rode in silence and enjoyed enjoyed the quiet majesty of the rolling hills.
I was impressed that one of the terriers stayed with us through the whole two-hour ride! (He seemed pretty tired by the end.)
We eventually brought in the horses, gave them some water, and said our good-byes.
Tomkin gave PK a tip and asked him for suggestions about what to do on the island. Really nice (and interesting) guy. We headed back toward Waimea, and Tomkin suggested that we picnic. We found a spot (near the police station with a mountain in view) and enjoyed some sandwiches and fruit.
I don't know how many times each day we just marveled at the beautiful scenery, the delicious food, the amazing adventures--and were so, so thankful that we got to experience it all.
On our drive back, we stopped to take some photos--we even caught a glimpse of some wild goats and peacocks by the side of the road!
We decided to stop for happy hour at
Don the Beachcomber and ended up at the same seaside table we'd had two days before.
I got a mai tai and some "tiki chips." Tomkin had the fish tacos and sweet potato fries.
We got to see the incredible sunset (at least until the sun disappeared behind some low clouds). So beautiful!
We got back to the B&B about 6:30. Tomkin took the computer up to the main house and did some research on boogie boarding. I went up and joined him, and we spent some time chatting with John (the father of Johnsie; they own the B&B). Such a sweet guy. Back in the Coffee Barn, we relaxed in "the fort" as we called it (our bed with the mosquito netting down). I started reading
The Jane Austen Book Club and wondered what all the noises were on our tin roof (could have been either Oreo the cat or a mongoose; not sure--but we heard those noises a lot!). Hawaii is a strange and mysterious place...in all the best ways!
Tomkin and I packed up a cooler and headed north toward Waimea. We stopped at a shopping center and picked up a couple souvenirs. 
Then we decided to get an early lunch at a roadside place called Huli Sue's. (Thank goodness for our excellent guidebooks and Tomkin's pre-travel research!) 
I got a BBQ pork sandwich that came with fries, coleslaw, and one huge onion ring. WOW, was it good. Tomkin got a stuffed baked potato and coleslaw. Really cute place, and we loved the food. 
We left about noon and headed toward Dahana Ranch (we had reservations to go horseback riding). 
It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere! Thank goodness we had our GPS. We were greeted by a bunch of happy dogs, a couple of whom joined us for the ride. 
Our guide was PK, who had grown up working on the ranch, escaped to Texas for five years, then returned to the family business just two months before because, he said, working in an office didn't turn out to be as fun as he thought it would be. 
In addition to me and Tomkin, the other riders were a mom and daughter from Oregon and two parents and their two young sons from San Diego. (The boys' horses were attached to PK's horse throughout the ride.) PK got us all saddled up; my horse's name was Kailua, and Tomkin's was Skip. 
We set out on the range, and we were instructed to not stay in a line. Dahana Ranch is a working cattle ranch with thousands of acres, and the horses are working horses (not trail horses). The ranchers want the horses to stay active and engaged and always be thinking. That took some work on our parts! The horses definitely wanted to follow each other or walk along a cattle path, if one was available. 
So we had to instruct them to spread out, go up and down hills, veer around cattle, and occasionally speed up or slow down. I've never been on a ride like that before--it was amazing. 
PK told us about the ranch and the land (his grandfather planted all the grass, which was from New Zealand, back in 1951) and gave us lots of tips and advice about riding horses. 
For a while we all rode in silence and enjoyed enjoyed the quiet majesty of the rolling hills. 
I was impressed that one of the terriers stayed with us through the whole two-hour ride! (He seemed pretty tired by the end.) 
We eventually brought in the horses, gave them some water, and said our good-byes. 
Tomkin gave PK a tip and asked him for suggestions about what to do on the island. Really nice (and interesting) guy. We headed back toward Waimea, and Tomkin suggested that we picnic. We found a spot (near the police station with a mountain in view) and enjoyed some sandwiches and fruit. 
I don't know how many times each day we just marveled at the beautiful scenery, the delicious food, the amazing adventures--and were so, so thankful that we got to experience it all. 
On our drive back, we stopped to take some photos--we even caught a glimpse of some wild goats and peacocks by the side of the road! 
We decided to stop for happy hour at Don the Beachcomber and ended up at the same seaside table we'd had two days before. 
I got a mai tai and some "tiki chips." Tomkin had the fish tacos and sweet potato fries. 
We got to see the incredible sunset (at least until the sun disappeared behind some low clouds). So beautiful! 
We got back to the B&B about 6:30. Tomkin took the computer up to the main house and did some research on boogie boarding. I went up and joined him, and we spent some time chatting with John (the father of Johnsie; they own the B&B). Such a sweet guy. Back in the Coffee Barn, we relaxed in "the fort" as we called it (our bed with the mosquito netting down). I started reading The Jane Austen Book Club and wondered what all the noises were on our tin roof (could have been either Oreo the cat or a mongoose; not sure--but we heard those noises a lot!). Hawaii is a strange and mysterious place...in all the best ways!
1 comments:
So, Jules, you got to see wild peacocks in Dunedin, FL and Hawaii. The scenery does look beautiful!
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