Walking, First Half of October

 Back in late August? early September?  I decided that I wanted to participate in an online walking challenge for October.  The premise was easy: walk at least 10 minutes per day.

Now, my days are already mostly spent on my feet, but I was wanting to squeeze in more 'fun' walking along with the 'work' walking that I do.  So I signed up.  How hard can 10 minutes be?

BWAHAHAHA!  (Insert maniacal laugher on repeat here)

Turns out I'm really horrible at squeezing in a measly 10 minutes of fun or 'just for me' stuff, especially walking.

The first few days, okay, I got those. I included pictures from those in this post. But the next week or so, not so much.  

October 4, walking on the 'garden road' that runs from the driveway to the garden. Looking towards the driveway and horse pastures. Front yard is to the right of the conifers and front field (and after that, the road) is to the left , garden is out of sight on immediate right.

October 6, standing in the back of the field looking west towards the house/barn/shop area

October 7, in the backyard looking north towards the coop, barn and shop

On Saturday, October 11, I went to a quilt show at the local fairgrounds, and did a ton of walking there, looking at all the quilts on display.  It was a lot of start and stop type walking so I'm not sure I should even count it as it didn't raise my heart rate one iota like constant motion would.  But, since I was there for over two hours, maybe I walked the equivalent of ten continuous minutes?  I took a bunch of pictures while there, and intend to write a separate post about that, but here's a token picture for my 'walking' that day.

This week I redoubled my efforts, and have (so far) walked 10-25 minutes each day.

October 13, near the northwest corner of the property while walking the perimeter path we made for riding horses/driving tractor/driving 4-wheeler/walking on.

October 14, walking in the field near the marsh, looking northeast.

October 15, walking laps in the 'arena' behind the barn while I wait for one of the water troughs to fill.

As you can see from yesterday's arena laps, I'm trying to get a little creative and explore time slots that I can multitask by walking while 'doing' something else, like filling a water trough, or the 20 minutes something (zucchini muffins) is baking in the oven when the day is pretty jam packed and doesn't feel like there's any 'me' time in there available for a walk.

Hopefully the second half of the month I'll do better and actually walk every day.

More Barn Finishing Progress

You'd think  I had thought, back in the Spring when we were working on putting up the tack room walls and I was staining boards for paneling the inside walls, that the tack room would be finished and fully functional by the end of the Summer.  I mean, we spent a half of a Saturday putting up paneling and got an entire wall done.  So with just three more walls and the ceiling to do, we'd need what? another couple of Saturdays?

Ha!  Not so.  (Well, maybe if we'd kept at it rather than taking 'breaks' for weeks at a time. . . DH's typical start-stop-start-stop method when he's not super interested in a project or he's feeling unsure how to do it. . .)

Here we are, fully five months from when that first wall got done, four months since the ceiling was installed, and my tack room is still under construction.  Yes, it is further along, and yes, it's about two steps from being totally done, but come on!  Something that really bugs me is disorganization, and with moving things here and there in the tack room (and/or empty stalls) during this construction phase so that there's room to work on the wall of the moment/week/month, the equipment I use on a daily basis for working and/or grooming horses has been anything but in a consistent neat spot where I can quickly retrieve it when needed.

Since I try to keep most grievances offline, let me refocus this post.  Here is what we have gotten done! *insert big smiley face here, LOL*

All four walls are paneled and trimmed!  Toad helped DH with putting up the paneling on the fourth wall (the one DH put off the longest because it also includes plumbing).  At 11, Toad is sorta interested in building/making stuff, so he tried to listen to DH's lesson in leveling the starter board at the bottom but really liked the snapping into place (and holding while DH nailed in) the tongue and groove boards above that one.  Together, they got half of the wall paneled in a little over an hour.

Before we put up the remainder of the paneling, DH stubbed in the hot and cold water faucets that are on the feed room side of that wall (only the cold is operational for now). And, as you can see, we had by then put up the plywood that is the 'finished wall' on the feed room side.

Then, while he finished installing the rest of the knotty pine in the tack room, I spray painted the plywood in the faucet area of the feed room with a sealant.  Four coats seems like it's well protected against any errant spraying of water when using the faucets/emptying the hose.

Once the wall was finished inside the tack room, there was another pause while we had a debate about trim.  Or, rather, I wanted a less easy for DH to make (slap together) style of trim and we took about a two week break. . . Until he decided my idea was feasible and not totally outrageously expensive to buy, and stopped at Home Depot to buy a few sticks of quarter round for me to stain. (First, he had to try making quarter round out of some scrap lumber we had, but didn't have the right router bit or jig or patience for it to work.  Then he decided to give in and buy some since I was standing adamant on not having 'square edged'--as I referred to it--trim.)

Last weekend, we installed the quarter round at the ceiling/wall joints and at the corners of all four walls inside the tack room.

He had wanted to go with some ripped two by fours or leftover paneling pieces and use those as trim in the joints.  I felt that would 'box in' the corners and ceiling visually and draw your eye to those areas, when all I wanted to do was 'hide' those rough edges where walls and ceiling met together and soften the joints of the room.  Hence the necessity of using quarter round.  

Once it was all in place, DH did admit it looked nice, even if it wasn't his first choice (the easier--slapping up square boards--way out).

With the interior of the tack room trimmed out (except around the door frame, which DH forgot to cut boards for when he was cutting other trim pieces for me to stain last weekend), we spent a quick half hour or so on Sunday after church and before the Lions game putting up the trim on the corner where the aisle wall boards meet the feed room plywood.  So now that looks nice too.

 

There are just a few things left for DH to do in the tack room.  

• finish the plumbing for the sink and the on-demand water heater,
• install the sink 
• install the heat exchanger he bought at auction last month for heating the tack room (the barn has PEX tubing running to it underground from the outdoor wood boiler; installed back in 2007 when we installed the wood boiler for heating our house and planning to someday have a tack room that needed to be kept above freezing), 
• hook up the above sink light and counter level electrical outlet on that last wall, 
• install the countertop (I bought at a garage sale this summer for $4!) and cabinet above it (I bought at Habitat Restore in early spring for $40),
• install the door trim on both the tack room side and the aisle sides of the door.

Really all that stuff is 5-30 minute tasks and could be knocked out in one afternoon with time to spare.  Not like it takes a month of Saturdays committed to it. (Fingers crossed it won't be a month of Saturdays from now. . .)

Once a few of those are done--like the heat exchanger, sink and counter, I can get an accurate idea of how much space into the room those things take up and then I will be ready to put up the wall mounted saddle racks and bridle brackets (I don't want to put them up, have them be too crowded, especially near the heat source, and have to move them, thus leaving holes in my beautiful paneling where they had been screwed into place).  

I'm getting really anxious to move everything in and get stuff put where it will 'live' in an organized and easily used manner.  Plus, with all the extras out of the empty stalls (tack, tools, totes of winter blankets in the off season), I can start advertising for another boarder or two and get my barn fully occupied at last.

Glad I Had a Spare

A week or so ago I was saddling the Poetess in preparation to ride her and I made a crucial observation.

I'm guessing that most people do not know what the black ring thing in the picture above is.  I'm fairly certain a whole lot of horse people won't even know.  I know (obviously, since it's pictured in my hand and I'm writing about it).  And I'm glad I always try to keep a spare on hand.  They don't need to be replaced often, but when they do, it's imperative to have a replacement on hand.  Because you can't go without it.

So, what is it?

Well, it's a small (traditionally) rubber ring, although I'm fairly sure there are plastic ones also these days.  It's an integral part of a safety stirrup iron known as a peacock stirrup.  In short, it's a rubber-band like ring that attaches to the outside of a particular style of stirrup that, in an emergency such as falling off and getting your foot stuck in the stirrup, will release and open up the stirrup so that your foot can come out and you don't get dragged and/or stepped on by your horse.

These are the type of stirrups I use on my dressage saddle when I have a horse that's either fairly hot/spooky or early in it's training.  Just in case I have any unplanned dismounts (aka getting thrown off).  That way I at least won't be further damaged by getting my boot stuck in the stirrup iron.

When tacking up the Poetess, I noticed that the ring on my right stirrup was pretty shredded and barely holding together.  I'm glad I noticed before I got on.  Because the state of this ring was a huge safety hazard.

Since the stirrup is open, and therefore my foot easily able to fall out of the stirrup, when this ring is either unhooked or otherwise no longer attached at the top and bottom of the stirrup--so, broken--I want this ring to be connected when I'm riding.  The entire time I'm in the saddle, this needs to be attached.  I, for instance, don't want to be cantering her around and have it give out and therefore my right foot falls out of the stirrup (and I'm suddenly off balance and possibly hitting the ground if I don't regain my balance fast enough).  Or even trotting her and have her spook at a deer jumping out of the cornfield (it's happened at least once this Fall) causing her to swiftly turn 90 or 180 degrees, which would definitely briefly put pressure on the outside of the stirrup and potentially snap the thread that this ring was still connected by.

Had I not had a spare on hand, I probably, in the name of not potentially dying or maiming myself, would have not ridden her that day or the following number of days it took to purchase--and wait for it to be shipped to me--a new pair of safety rings.

Because I did have a spare, I quickly changed it out, and had a spectacularly good ride.  It just so happened to be a day when something we've been working on for a while clicked and we moved a step further along my training plan for her.

 Interesting tidbit I just learned while writing this post and googling peacock stirrup: Apparently these are now considered 'dangerous' and are banned in competitions.  Because the little hook that the rubber ring attaches to can sometimes in a fall, snag on your breeches/belt/belt loops and catch you/trap you.  Oh the irony (Gah!  Pun not intended!) of a long-used safety iron now (that other styles are manufactured) being too dangerous to use.  I've had no issues with mine the last 25+ years, I think I'll keep using them, thank you.  (But I may want to stock up on replacement rings just in case they become harder to find).

Random Things on a Friday

 Happy Friday!  I hope where ever you are, the weather is great and life is not too overwhelming at the moment.

Here's a few things from my week I thought I would share for a Friday wrap up kind of post.

1. This is sort of a PSA.  If you use a paper towel roll holder that holds the roll vertical like I do, don't forget to check it and clean the base now and then.  Honestly, I'm not sure how long it's been since I did this; mainly because I'm not sure how many years ago I first bought and started using this roll holder (prior to that the roll just stood on the counter and would randomly get knocked over/blown over in a stiff breeze now and then).  So, let's say, for the sake of easy numbers, I've had this thing for five years.  It never occurred to me that over time, maybe some little paper towel debris (from tearing off those towels) would build up on/under the base of the holder and that I should probably regularly give it a wipe down.  Maybe when I change the roll (we don't go through paper towels very fast, like several months for one roll) would be a good time to do that.  Definitely don't go for five years, because then it will look like this which is kind of gross and unhygienic-looking.

Definitely wipe it off with a damp cloth now and then, so it will be nonfuzzy and look much better, like this

2.  Another PSA kinda thing.  If you're making banana cream pie and your recipe calls for you to put a layer of sliced bananas onto the crust before pouring in the filling but you forget to do that, you can put those banana slices right on top of the filling after it's poured in (and you cuss yourself out because you realize you forgot to do the bananas first).  Just know that you have to eat the whole pie pretty quick because those banana slices will brown after a day or two and start looking rather unappealing.  I wanted to share this info with you just in case you ever mess up your pie by forgetting to put the slices on top of the crust and then pour in the pudding filling.  All will not be lost, just toss the slices on top and eat pie with each meal for the next day or so.  😁

3.  The Northern Lights were out, sort of, a couple of nights this week.  No big light pillars, more like an opaque-ish pale green light that swirled horizontally a bit.

4. I'm taking part in an October walking club over at optimisticmusings.com so have been taking short walks for the last few days.  Just around this little place here, so far, and challenging myself to take at least one picture on every walk.  Here's Wednesday, Thursday, and today's pictures:

5. Last Saturday was the Fall Book Swap that my friend organizes and puts on.  I think I spent about an hour and a half browsing all the offerings, took in 14 books from home and came out with a bit more than that.

Most are authors I haven't read before and thought I would take a chance on, based on the blurb on the back (or inside cover) of the book.  What do I have to lose, other than a little reading time, if I don't like them?  Didn't cost me anything.  And if I find some new favorite authors in the process, all the better! 

Welcome To October; My Grandma Would Have a Fit . . .

 The weather at this little place here is so beautiful, it doesn't feel like October.  Well, maybe like a really good weather day in October.  Right now the temperature is in the low 70s, the sky is bright blue, and there's a warm breeze.  The sun is strong and hot when you're in it.  And that's why I'm running around, hanging laundry on the line in my bare feet.

Which, were she still alive to see me doing this, would absolutely give my maternal grandmother a fit.  Growing up, it seemed that a lot of things I did gave her a fit. . .  (Sorry Grandma, now that I'm a grandma too I can kind of see where you were coming from.)  But this particular thing, this being without shoes and socks in October would give her cause to predict a coming sickness for me.

Because, and I quote "When the leaves come, and the leaves go, you don't go bare foot."  Meaning, in the warm early Spring days, when the leaves are beginning to unfurl their buds, no matter how hot the sun, you need shoes on your feet.  And the same goes for in the Fall, when the leaves are dropping from the trees and covering the ground.

According to Grandma, I should be wearing shoes right now.  But I'm not. Rebel that I am, I'm choosing to live dangerously and walk barefooted through the fallen leaves.  

Hope I don't end up coming down with that cold Faline had last week that kept her home from school--and therefore was at my house since she also couldn't go to a sitter--on Friday. . .

Fancy Pie

 Remember when I went to Shipshewana in June with my daughters and I bought a pie crust cutter?

And, at the time, I said I rarely make two-crust pies, but would try to remember to make them more often so I could use my fancy new cutter?

Well, I finally remembered to use it.  Now that the apple trees in my orchard are getting ripe in turn (the four varieties I have all have staggered ripening dates), I made an apple pie and remembered to make it a two-crust pie rather than the crumb crust that has been my go-to for apple pies for decades.

I'm really pleased with how easy it was to use the pie crust cutter.  Directions said to lightly spray it with non-stick pan spray before using, but I don't use pan spray (I use old butter wrappers to smear around a touch of softened butter), so I tried doing it the cookie cutter way and just dipping the cutter in flour, then placing it on the pie crust dough.  

That worked really good in that it did not stick to and tear the dough.  It released cleanly both times (you cut one half then line up the straight edge of the cutter to meet up with the straight edge you just cut and do the other half).  About half of the cut-outs I had to lightly pry out using the tip of a plastic knife once the crust was in place, but that wasn't a big deal.  I think having those still in place while transferring the dough to the pie plate helped keep the crust from tearing.  It did tear a little near the center where the bigger cut-outs came out when I lifted it off the rolling mat.

For a first time ever use, I give it two thumbs up.  I'm sure the more I use it the better I will get at handling the cut-out dough.  Just a matter of technique and it will be perfect.  In fact, I liked the end result so much that I'm thinking of putting at least another one of these, in a different design, on my Christmas Wish List.

Side note: I also love my French rolling pin that I bought at the same time.

Hawaiian Vacation, Part Two

To say my first exposure to Oahu wasn't very positive would be an understatement.  I had absolutely loved the quiet, laid back, mostly rural nature of the Big Island.  Then, I get my broken foot (accidentally) stepped on by DH just before our flight to Honolulu started.  And then, with a throbbing, achy foot, I disembark in the much larger airport in the enormous city of Honolulu.

Did I mention that the airport in Kona is small?  And it's outdoors?  It was sooooo neat!  There were roofed areas, typically where there were desks/gates with computers, but no walls (with the exception of a few air conditioned lounges for those of membership status with specific groups).

Kona Airport terminal

The Honolulu airport was a different world.  Ultra urban.  Multi-level, sprawling walled-in structures with glass and long roped off mazed sections like cattle chutes in a stockyard.  Outside the walls wasn't any more calming.

Culture shock.  High rises everywhere.  Traffic everywhere.  People everywhere.  My anxiety level ratcheted up exponentially.  I don't do cities.  I don't like cities.  I don't like crowds.  I don't want to do this.  Where's the escape button? To say I was overwhelmed on Oahu more often than not would be an understatement.

Anyway, back to my story.

Because parking fees were so exorbitant, and because DH was sure we could walk pretty much everywhere in Honolulu (an opinion formed by the resort's claim to have everything you could ever want within a short walk), we'd decided not to rent a car on Oahu.  We planned to get a ride from the airport to the resort, and from the resort to Pearl Harbor and back, but pretty much walk everywhere else.  We were only going to be there three nights and two full days, so even with my foot recently broken, we felt we could do it and save close to a thousand dollars on the combination of car rental and parking fees.

We got a Lyft to our resort.  Which was like a night and day difference from the resort we'd just been at.  That one had been maybe three stories, but I think it was only two.  It had been quiet, we'd had a suite and a lanai. This resort was a high rise hotel (and hotel is how I refer to it).  I don't remember how many stories, but I do remember it was more than 33 because I accidentally punched 33 into the elevator call button once when we were actually headed to the 3rd floor (where the pool--indoor--was located.  Nope.  I didn't swim in that pool, not once). 

And our suite was, well, it was a suite in that it had a separate bedroom off the living room area.  It did not have the same homey feel as the other suite though.  It felt like a hotel room with a separate bedroom. 

I have to mention that the bathroom had a bidet.  I'm not a bidet person; I'm rather funny about when and where water can touch me.  This was a very fancy, high tech bidet and it drove me nuts; every time I sat on it--so, every time I needed to use the toilet--it would make noise (I think contact  woke up the computer part to be ready for me to push buttons for what I wanted it to do) and that was too much for my all ready jangled overwhelmed by the city nerves. The seat was also weird, sort of slanted, to put you in a good position for spraying off, I guess; it was not comfortable. I hated having to use the bathroom.  I just wanted a regular old low-tech toilet to sit on. 

The view from our room's 'balcony' which felt about two feet wide and three feet long.

Not on the same par as the lanai at the other place.

I was all ready missing the Nene and my gecko friend.

I do have to say, our Lyft driver was a great young (ha, probably in his early 30s) man.  He was polite, he was a good driver, and conversation with him was easy, not stilted.  We leaned that he had a regular day job, and would pick up Lyft passengers on his route home (or close to home) every evening.  Which was really a good way to make efficient use of his commute, cover the gas expense, and a way to meet people from all over the world without having to spend a lot of time with anyone who turned out annoying or otherwise unpleasant.  Not would I would do, but definitely a side hustle idea for anyone who commutes to and from a largish city, likes driving and is also kind of extroverted.

Also a shout out to our server that night at Hard Rock Cafe Honolulu. (The only place within walking distance on my throbbing re-smashed foot that had both food that sounded like I could eat it and not more than an hour wait for a table.) I believe his name was Levi.  He was awesome.  One of the first things he asked was if either of us had any food allergies, to which I said I was sensitive to soy and artificial sweeteners.  I picked my entree very carefully from the menu, paying close attention to the listed components of that offering, and even so, Levi came back a few minutes after we'd ordered and informed me that the marinade for the chicken in my entree contained soy, and would I like to order something else?  Since it was a minor 'contact' ingredient rather than a major exposure to me kind of thing I decided it was worth the risk (of later stomach upset) and kept my order rather than changing to another entree.  But it was so wonderful that he had the thought and took the time to ask the kitchen staff about ingredients without me even asking him to do that.  Best server encounter ever!!!  He was awesome in all the normal waitstaff ways too, and we left him a BIG tip.

Our first full day on Oahu, we got up early and took a Lyft to Pearl Harbor, where we spent about six hours.  Yes, there were a lot of people there, and yes, the crowds were rather overwhelming to me, but really wait times for anything wasn't too bad, and I would definitely go back if I had the chance.  DH and I chose to tour the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial and also the U.S.S. Missouri.  Really, I didn't take a whole lot of pictures, but we had a lot of quiet discussion between us pretty much everywhere we went while there.

The U.S.S. Arizona was very somber and thought provoking.

Approaching from the ferry.

remnants of a gun turret 

Markers for the U.S.S. Vestal and another ship (I can't remember the name of) which also sunk in the attack on Pearl Harbor.

As Pearl Harbor is still a working military base, we had to board a specific bus to get over to where the U.S.S. Missouri is docked.  That bus took you into a fenced in area, and you had access to restrooms and the U.S.S. Missouri and that was it.  

Walking towards the U.S.S. Missouri

  Neither DH nor I remembered learning anything about this ship in History class during our school years, and we wondered what made it special and why it was part of the Pearl Harbor Memorial.  Not very long into our tour, we found out.

On the U.S.S Missouri, at the time in Japanese waters, the peace treaty that ended WWII was signed.  Now it's presence in Pearl Harbor made sense.  The beginning of U.S. involvement in the war started there, and so it was fitting to retire to Pearl Harbor the ship on which WWII ended .

The spot on the deck where WWII officially ended.

Looking toward the U.S.S. Arizona memorial from the top of the U.S.S. Missouri

We spent hours on the ship, both with our guided tour group and after the tour ended and we were allowed to self-guide through some areas of the ship.  Neither of us had ever been on a battleship before, although I remember once seeing some Viet Nam era photos of my Dad's time on a ship when he was in the Marines.  Actually being in some of the rooms where the servicemen slept, ate, and enjoyed 'recreation time' was a whole different level of understanding than either of us had had in our lives up unto that point.

That was an interesting day, and now I was glad I had come to Oahu even though Honolulu's giganticness wasn't my thing at all.  Food was really becoming a problem, as so many of the 'grocery stores' in walking distance were more like convenience stores with packaged processed foods (the majority of which has ingredients I can't eat and still function).  Restaurants within a mile or two walk either needed reservations made several hours in advance (or even the day before) or they also had mostly things I couldn't/shouldn't eat.  Anyway. . .

On the drive back to our hotel/resort, we took another Lyft and had a horrid driver.  Not that he was rude or anything, but oh my goodness, he was on and off the accelerator constantly (traffic did not call for that, it was just his driving style), which was so bad that not only was I trying really really hard not to be car sick, even DH--who never ever gets car sick--was getting nauseous and just wanting the ride to be over.

On our second full day, we took a Lyft (better driver this time!) from our hotel to the parking lot of Diamond Head.  Like going to Pearl Harbor, hiking Diamond Head was on our Must Do List for this vacation.   

DH actually wanted to save money and hike all the way from the hotel rather than get a ride, but given how sore my foot was at the end of the day before from our walking around at Pearl Harbor (which was alternated with lots of sitting rest breaks for my foot), I was worried that if we hiked (about three miles) to Diamond Head I wouldn't be able to actually hike at Diamond Head once we got there.  So we got a Lyft.  And my foot was fine for hiking at our destination.  

looking toward Diamond Head from the parking area

It was a really cool hike.  Just over 3/4 mile one-way, and lots to see on your way to the top.  Like Fort Ruger inside the crater.

There's also a tunnel you have to walk through in order to get up to the old fire tower, which you go into in order to get back down.  Which was not as confusing in person as I just made it sound, LOL.

the narrow, dark, and not very tall tunnel

At the top, you have great views of the ocean as well as Honolulu.

You also crawl through a small, short doorway and go into the fire tower.  Which is where DH and I had a very up close encounter with a mongoose who apparently lives just outside the 'window' of the small room you enter via that doorway.  It was a little startling to see a mongoose at approximately face height and only a few feet away. 

Surprise!  There's a mongoose on the other side of the wall!

So, you can look out at the island from the fire tower for a bit, and then to get down, you have to traverse this old metal spiral staircase. It takes you down about two stories.  I loved it. It reminded me of stairways in some of the old lighthouses on the Great Lakes that you can tour.

Once you're back outside again, you are faced with this: The Ninety-nine Stairs!  And they are steep, and they are narrow.  These I went down sideways so my entire (broken) foot could be flat on the tread rather than the normal way where the ball of your foot carries a lot of weight (because it was the bones between my fourth and fifth toes and the ball of my foot that were broken).  It was a long way down!

99 stairs

We hiked back down to the parking area--and restrooms!--where we saw some more previously unknown to us birds.  Like this little tiny guy with a red mask across his eyes like a miniature winged superhero.

common waxbill

When we got back to the parking lot, my foot actually felt like it had some miles left in it, despite all the stairs and so we decided rather than call a Lyft, we'd see how far back to the hotel we could walk.  If I got going and just couldn't make it the full way back, we'd call for a ride.  Plus, we planned to stop and eat dinner somewhere on our way back through town which should give my foot a rest along the way.

So, we hiked through this tunnel which connects the road to Diamond Head to the rest of Honolulu.

tunnel back to town

We hiked through the edge of Honolulu, where there was a surprising (to us rural folk) number of homeless camps in the brush on the sides of the road, through some old residential neighborhoods on side-roads, and into the more bustling main part.  Where it so happened there was a street fair that had been set up while we were at Diamond Head and now the main road was blocked from vehicle traffic and the sidewalks were absolutely packed with pedestrians! So many people. Breathe, Kris, and keep hiking! 

We found Maui Brewing, and stopped there to eat an early dinner.  I don't remember what I ate, other than that it was good and I would eat there again given the chance (my brain tends to categorize food establishments into three categories: Never Eat There Again, Definitely Eat There Again, and Possibly Eat There Again based on if the menu offered much I can/want to eat and how good the food actually turned out to be).  I do remember that I ordered their stout, and that it was good.  Stout tends to be my beer of choice, yet it's hard to find stout on tap these days, especially during warm weather months or in hot weather locales.

Maui Brewing's stout

After dinner, we walked the rest of the way back to our hotel.  And that is how I hiked five miles on a broken foot in one day.  It was definitely sore when we got back to our hotel, and I think I spent the rest of the night reading a book with my foot propped up.

The next day, we were catching an overnight flight home, so we had quite a few hours to spend before heading to the airport.  We chose to spend most of the morning, until just before check out time, on Waikiki Beach.  It was fairly empty at that time of the day, and although I still couldn't actually swim because of my foot, I did enjoy standing about waist deep in the ocean.  I hadn't been in the Pacific Ocean before (touching it with my fingertips back in 2007 when DS1 graduated USMC bootcamp in San Diego doesn't count as 'in'). 

We had spent some time, not swimming, on the beach the first night we were in Honolulu, including watching fireworks over the beach that night.  The below picture is from then.

After swimming, we went back to our room, rinsed off, changed clothes, finished packing our bags, and took yet another Lyft (with another great driver, young, very personable and a smooth driving) to the airport.  We had a late lunch in the terminal at Sammy's Beach Bar and Grill, which had really good food.  Five stars from me, the picky eater/impossible to please person.  Definitely Would Eat There Again.

On our long flight home--it was direct Honolulu to Detroit--DH and I rehashed our Hawaiian vacation, pros and cons and what we'd do differently if we came back.  The Big Island, we would definitely do again and probably revisit all the same places, hopefully to hike more, see Kilauea erupt, get me to the top of Mauna Kea, and add more days to our stay.  Oahu, well, it wasn't what we'd expected.  DH has been to some major cities on work trips before, and even he got a little tired of the throngs of people and hugeness of Honolulu.  So, next time, if we went back to Oahu, we'd probably try to stay somewhere else, rent a car, and see the 'other side' of the island.

But, the general consensus is that we will go back to Hawaii someday.  Lord willing and the creek don't rise.