Hawaii - Day 3: Hilo, Hawaii (the Big Island) Part1

Brad and I flew from Honolulu, O'ahu over to Hilo, Hawaii. When we were making our plans our trip, we wanted to see as much as possible, so we decided to go to 3 islands total. I'm glad we did!! One of my good friends from college, Joey, is form Hilo, so we got all the "native" information for Hawaii.

Hawaii ~ Day 3: Hilo, Hawaii

 

Brad and I flew into Hilo, Monday night. After we landed, we got our rental Jeep and checked into our hotel. We were kind of tired from being up so early that morning, so we went for a run and then went out for a light dinner. Between the airport and getting to our hotel, we were able to schedule a horseback ride for the next morning!! I adore horseback riding and it was something Brad really wanted to do as well.

Tuesday, April 23

Well, it was another early morning. We were up at 6:00 am to get ready and drive an hour and a half to the Waipi'o Valley (Valley of the Kings) on the north east side of Hawaii. The drive up there was so beautiful. We definitely felt like we getting to see "Hawaii" on the Big Island. Honolulu had been gorgeous, but it was very "touristy." I'm glad we decided to come to Hilo as well! 

Once we reached the meeting spot near the valley, we were introduced to our Horseback Riding Tour guide. We chose to book a horseback riding tour from  Na'alapa Stables. Our check in time was 9:00 am and we left at 9:30 am!! It was AMAZING!! There was only one other woman on the tour with us. Our tour guide was great! I would highly recommend this riding tour. The scenery could not have been more gorgeous. 

We had to drive down the side of the mountain (literally) in a 4-wheel drive van. We also had to leave the side door of the van open so that we could jump out of the van if we fell of the road. Our guide told us NOT to buckle our seat belts for this reason as well. Apparently, they put the guard rail up on this little road in 1993 because so many people had driven off the side of the mountain! The road fit one vehicle and had some wider areas for vehicles to pass each other. That was an adventure by itself! Holy cow. 

When we got to the bottom of the mountain, the tour guide told us that only about 50 people actually live in the valley. Most of the people who live there have taro farms. Taro is kind of like a potato, but it grows in water. The natives use taro to make lots of different things, but mostly they make poi out of it. Interesting, right? Our tour guide told us so much about the valley, the natives, and cracked a joke in just about every sentence. He was awesome!

During our 2 and 1/2 ride, we saw untouched scenery, banana, avocado, and mango trees, wild horses, and so many other things! Oh! and during our ride, a spider dropped from a tree and fell on me. That caused some screaming and total freaking out. Brad lost his sunglasses when his horse tried to lay down in 4 feet of water. The cutest part, the ranch has 2 dogs that followed us and ran next to us the entire ride! They were pretty funny and entertaining. Here's the pictures!

I'm pretty sure the horseback riding was our favorite thing from the trip! We looooved it! We also decided that we need to buy some land and some horses. I mean...it's possible in the future...

This post was long, so I am splitting up Day 3 into 2 parts! Next post coming...