Horses and beaches and harbors… oh my!

A lot has happened in the past two days! Here are just a few of the highlights

1. Rita’s son owns a ranch up by Laie and he took us on a trail ride. It was my second time ever on a horse, and I happened to get the one that was the most stubborn out of all of them. Regardless of the fact that I felt like my horse was going to throw me off any minute, the view from the top was breathtaking. I could try to describe it but as hard as I tried it would never suffice, so I’m not going to waste your time or mine.

2. On the way home we stopped at a beach on the north shore called Waimea Bay. The big thing to do at this beach is to jump off a 30-foot cliff into the ocean, however I get no satisfaction out of throwing my body off of a rock into the air, so instead I sat at the edge of the water while the waves came in and out. Some would say it was not as exciting as cliff jumping, which may be true, but it is definitely more relaxing, which is something I need at this moment in my life. I have a lot of big, life changing decisions to make at this stage in my life and I enjoy the quiet moments on the beach to ponder about life.

3. Yesterday was my 23^rd birthday! Knowing that there were a myriad of activities to participate in, I decided that to start checking things off of my “Hawai’i to do list,” and go to Pearl Harbor Memorial. Of course my camera died the moment I walked in so I have no pictures of this excursion, but to make this post a little more interesting than the last one I will include pictures I got off of Google. It was a humbling experience to look out on the harbor and realize that hundreds of men sacrificed their lives so that I can enjoy the freedoms that I do. Right before getting on the boat to see the U.S.S. Arizona memorial there was a plaque that had pictures of the crew doing their normal morning routine, not knowing that in a few short hours over half of their crew would die. Out of everything that happened that day those pictures touched me the most and made me realize that I do not know what is going to happen 10 minutes from now, so I need to make sure I am living each do to the fullest. Later that day I was able to get onto a boat that took me over to the U.S.S. Arizona memorial, where I saw the submarine that took 1,177 men’s lives on December 7, 1941, I wish there was a word stronger than thank you to express how I feel about those men and women who serve in the military and sacrifice their lives. 

The memorial they built over the U.S.S. Arizona

The names of the men who lost their lives on the U.S.S. Arizona

            On a less serious note there were men from the marine corps driving the boats that took us to the memorial, and on the way back there was one who was so extremely good looking, I could not take my eyes off of him. He was seriously the hottest man I have EVER seen. Then on the way home I “splurged” and bought an already cut mango for my birthday and it was heavenly!