Aloha! A Hawaiian Holiday

Over the past two years I've been working horsebackriding into some of my travel experiences.  It's something I did for many years growing up, having been a pretty horse crazy kid.  Last year I visited Iceland with my friend Kerry, where we happily tölted through the volcanic landscape.  I also went on a ranch trip with my dad, and we saw a tonne of wildlife (deer, moose, bears, eagles, and coyotes) riding through the forested hills.

This year my Dad and I visited Hawaii, since I got the week of the US Thanksgiving holiday off and November is a generally unpleasant month weather-wise in the Pacific Northwest.  We went on two spectacular rides through very different regions of the Big Island: the Waipi'o Valley, with its lush, tropical rain forest, rivers and black sand beach, and the Kohala Ranch, situated on the North Kohala Coast mountains with its seemingly endless fields and open-range feel.

Here are a few pictures:

A misty midday ride through the open range grass fields on Kohala Ranch.  That's me on the right with my trusty pal Gunner.

A slightly damp trip through the Waipi'o Valley with Sierra.  Some of the rivers we rode through came up to her belly!

While not on horseback, we rode around the island in style:

Of course we did a few other things while on the Big Island, including a visit to the volcano, snorkeling, and swimming.  One thing I did not know was that Hawaii is home to some amazing petroglyphs.  We took a short hike to see some:

Have you been to the Hawaii?  I'm always looking for good travel ideas, so let me know if you have some for my next trip!