HAWAII DAYS 4 and 5

Day 4 we spent the morning at the beach again after grabbing a couple of smoothies at the Barefoot Bar. We had until noon to soak up our last bit of sun on the beach. We had to be on the North Shore by 4 for a horseback ride. They told us we had better leave by at least 2 to provide for traffic. Since we paid for a whole days use of the chaise lounges we just let the people who were next to us on the beach have them for the rest of the day.. it seemed to be a waste to just leave them there or turn them in. After cleaning up we grabbed a quick lunch at the snack shack they had great sandwiches and my granddaughter was thrilled they had Cup Of Noodle.. of all things. We then headed out for the North Shore a part of the island I had never been to. What gorgeous scenery! I wish I hadn't been driving, I would have loved to be hanging out the window to take pictures. We passed through several interesting little towns and we saw a couple of the famous shrimp trucks. The ones that serve shrimp cooked in garlic and butter. Our concierge said it was OK but that further around the north side there was a stand in front of an old barn that served large prawns cooked in garlic butter. But, we never got there since it was closed by the time we got through riding. Anyway, it was a beautiful drive, about an hour and a half since we didn't have a lot of traffic. The riding stable is a privately owned ranch that has rides to suit all degrees of riders. Our group consisted of a few non riders, my granddaughter who is a moderate beginner and Faith, Morgan and I who know how to ride. It was a 2hr ride along very scenic trails and since it was 4:00pm it was great riding weather, not too hot. It was a nice quiet ride that everyone enjoyed and the company was good, everyone had a good time.

After the ride we headed back to Honolulu and got cleaned up and ended back at the Hula Grill at the hotel. Dinner was good as usual. We decided that since this was our last night we should take a last walk on the beach. T didn't want to so we took her back to the room and admonished her not to answer the door, the phone or anything. Faith and I took a walk down the beach and by the time we got back, T was sound asleep. How sad our last night.

The next morning we dashed out to buy last minute gifts and souvenirs. At the Outrigger between 8-10am they have a station where you can drop off your luggage if you flew in on Hawaiian Air. That was so handy, we just left our luggage and printed our boarding passes and we didn't have to worry about lugging all that to the airport and standing in line. I also upgraded T and my ticket (Faith already had 1st class) to first class...that was a real treat. We had the room until noon and that worked out great since our plane was at 1:40 we had the room until we left.

That was the end of our vacation.. it was fun but quick.

I will be back soon!