Just a silly little TR - Run Away!!

[buzz1121]

Nebo, there is always, always room for a Nebo TR even if it is a shortened version of one. All the TRs you mentioned are great, but man Nebo, it will be even better if YOU write a TR with those in progress.

What can you say? What can't you say? It's all good!

Can I send you some vikes for the back? A heating pad? You name it and if I can help, I will!

Your TRs are awesome and you have such a loyal following. I have been dying to ask how the trip was but this is Pkondz's TR and it is pitch perfect Pkondz. But a Pkondz/Nebo/Laura/Shannon bonanza would be made of awesome!!!

 

[Backstage_Gal]

Nebo, there is always, always room for a Nebo TR even if it is a shortened version of one. All the TRs you mentioned are great, but man Nebo, it will be even better if YOU write a TR with those in progress.

What can you say? What can't you say? It's all good!

Can I send you some vikes for the back? A heating pad? You name it and if I can help, I will!

Your TRs are awesome and you have such a loyal following. I have been dying to ask how the trip was but this is Pkondz's TR and it is pitch perfect Pkondz. But a Pkondz/Nebo/Laura/Shannon bonanza would be made of awesome!!!

I second that sentiment

Ponzi, another great chapter! DH has him and the kids scheduled for a 2 hour horseback ride in Yellowstone this summer, but I bowed out, I don't think I could survive 2 hours on a horse. The same goes for wild water rafting and long hikes. I will spend my Yellowstone vacation in a Best Western room with my laptop, LOL.

 

[jedijill]

I second that sentiment

Third!

Jill in CO

 

[nebo]

Two Pearl or not to Pearl - Part 2

Hi-yo Silver, Away!

everybody knows that famous quote/line, it's from Bill Denbrough.



We’re slathered with sunscreen and… “Gather round the car, folks. Water bottles for everybody!”


Ok, hats, long pants, exactly what part of your body is lathered with sun screen?

And, why?

or do you just like lathering yourself up with sunscreen?

Wait, you're not talking about doin it to the horses,,, right,,, right?
Boy I sure could use the prehensile tale from that monkey at Chinaman’s hat.

Um, just wondering: don't all animals with tail have "prehensile tails" meaning, they have control of them and what they do? I never heard of a house cat having a prehensile tail,,, but either one of my cats can walk past the coffee table and with the slightest flick of the ol tail, knock over a freshly made manhattaon or a galls of wine.

The nice girl at the counter was kind enough to help me out.
“Oh, no sir (There’s that sir again!), you can’t bring water bottles with you. You aren’t allowed to carry a bag or anything except a small camera.”

Sigh, after all these reports,,, what part of SunnyD's didn't you understand? So what if you were half in the saddlebag by the end of your cattle drive?



We head off to the loading area at the designated time and wait around like cattle to be told what to do.

Oh yes, Longhorns are very good at being patient and staying in a waiting area untill they are given a chance to follow the instructions newly received and showing off their listening skills.

Like that? See how I did that? It’s a ranch, right? Cattle? See?

Okay, I’ll shut up now. No you won't.





The people in charge were mostly young girls (around 20?) who seemed to know what they were doing. Eventually, we all got into a saddle.

Ok, am I the only one picturing all four of you in clown outfits and rubber ball noses all sitting at least a little bit on top of one horse sharing a part of the saddle?

Coincidentally the saddles happened to be attached to horses. Kay was on Tzaziki, Elle was on Kimber, Ruby was on Blue and I got Atlas. AKA, "Oh my God, get him off!"
Ah yes, Atlas. Greek mythology. Supported the world on his shoulders, I believe.
No, Smidgy supported His weight on her lap for 15 trips to Florida.




Considering I was the only male of the four of us, shouldn’t I have been on Blue? I mean considering how parts of me were going to feel after a two hour horseback ride.

Just sayin’ :

Im, uh, uh, gonna leave that one alone. Well, both alone.


The good.

where's the Tulee -tulee- loo ?

There were about a dozen riders in our group. We were at the end of the line. We had two guides. There was the first girl who I cleverly called girl 1. She was at the front of the line, so never did learn her name. At the tail end with us was Randy. Randy was terrific. She really made this ride great. I had asked her a few questions (Come here often? What’s your sign? Can I buy you a drink? Whoops! Skip that last one.) and she mentioned that she tried to be the kind of guide that she would want if she was on a tour. And boy did she ever come through. She was full of info about the different plants and what they were called, where they came from, how the ancient Hawaiians used them, etc. Towards the end of the two hours, she and girl 1 switched places and boy was she missed. Girl 1 didn’t say anything. Oh, hang on, that’s not quite true. She did say, “Get back in line, sir.”

She was Libra, wasn't she?

We started off and after a few minutes we began passing these strange looking concrete blocks.

It's called Stonehenge, it's in England, i told you you can't trust those United Airling pilots,,, they just won't ask for directions!
geesh!

Apparently they were a direct result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The military wanted to ensure that the troups would have a place to shelter from an attack so all these bunkers were built. Supposedly they could still be used today… but looking at them, I’m not too sure how much use they’d be against today’s weapons. Interesting, but a little sad too.

That is one reason I've kind of balked at going to Hawaii, I know me, and it's going to make me depressed seeing and thinking about that morning, 70 years ago.

We left the bunkers behind and were treated with some beautiful scenery. Well what’d you expect? It’s Hawaii for Pete’s sake!

That’s Randy in blue off to the left. Shortly after I shot this, she dropped back and asked if I’d ever had Guava right off a tree. I said no and she looked surprised and said, “Really?”

And you told her you don'[t like touching bat droppings?

Yeah, we’ve got tons of guava trees in Canada. By the way, Randy, have you ever sucked on an icicle straight off an eaves trough? No? “Really?”

that's beautiful,,,, it would have been nicely played,,,, if you had done it,,,, I'm gonnna pretend you did.





Show of hands out there, everyone who’s never eaten a guava before? I look at this fruit and I realize I have no idea how to eat it. Do you peel it? Are there seeds? Is there a core? What?

great, something else to worry about,,,
peel and eat guava/guano.





I’m not sure if I should feel annoyed or pleased… about either one.

We move on a little farther and I start getting a weird, disorienting feeling. Déjà vu. This place looks really familiar… but I know I’ve never been here before. What gives? Here’s what I saw: Before reading on, see if it looks familiar to you too…

Figured it out yet?

"The Hills are alive"?


The picture might not have the same effect on you as being there did on me. In one of the Jurassic Park movies, there’s a scene where the professor (and Mary Anne… sorry wrong show) and the kids huddle behind a log while a herd? flock? gaggle? bunch of dinosaurs runs over and around them. This is the meadow where it was filmed.

Ok, remember the scene perfectly.
it was the lack of velociraptors the threw me off.

The bad.



Luckily, none of the DDs brought their cameras with them either.

Here’s a rundown.

We were shown an area where a scene was filmed for Lost.

watched it in the beginning

There’s a scene in Windtalkers where Nicholas Cage is filmed overlooking the battle scene from a high cliff. We saw the “high cliff” it was a little rise about 10 feet in height.

watched it

We saw the view from the closing scenes for both Mighty Joe Young and George of the Jungle.

watched Mighty Joe,,, underrated movie,, didn't see George though

We saw props left over from Mysterious Island (the new one, with The Rock).

not seen that one yet,,,, but it givesw me a chance to say that the greatest movie score EVER WRITTEN and recorded was in Mysterious Island, the original, by Bernard Herrmann.

And my two favorites:

There were three shallow giant footprints from 1998s Godzilla. Shallow? Didn’t Mathew Broderick fall in one? Apparently they were originally about 6 feet deep. But the cows kept falling in and couldn’t get out.

A really terrible movie,, that had probably the greates Trailer" of all time,,,, the old fissherman at the end of the long, long pier,,, who's bobber goes underwater, and yanks the pole out of his hands,,, and he starts running to shore as the pier is exploding behind him,,,,, great stuff.



The ugly.

We’re about an hour and a half into our ride and heading for home when it happens. One of the horses up ahead shies from something and another nips at it or kicks it. Not sure exactly what precipitated it, but the result was one horse getting spooked and running off.

cool, happened to me once from a bee biting my horse,,, he took off back to the barn at full bore,, and across two roads without looking both ways first!





He was a little banged up (scraped knee and hand, I believe) but otherwise seemed okay. The guides offered to have a jeep come and take him the rest of the way, but he declined and clambered back on the horse. I gotta give the guy credit for having the guts to mount up again.

You are kidding rightf? Your just waiting for somebody to say,,, "When you fall off a horse, you just have to climb right back on and try it again. " but it's not gonna be me,,, oh no, I'm not gonna say it.

As the end of the tour approached, so did the hardest part.

[COLOR="teal"Yeah, what do you tip a horse after two hours? [/COLOR][/B]

I walked funny all the way back to the car… but nobody was laughing. Well nobody was laughing [I]with[/I] me.

.[B][COLOR="teal"]DId you get that big water blister on the tailbone?







There was a line up just to wait to get a buzzer. By the time I’d parked and returned to the Cheesecake Café, 20 minutes had gone by. Ruby told me to go up to the desk and get a buzzer. I dutifully head over to the desk, passing about 100 people in line and tell the harried hostess who hurriedly hands me a buzzer. We wander back outside to serve our sentence.

I aTE THERE 6 months ago in a suburb here,,, nothing special.



Our buzzer goes off and we head in for dinner. Again, no food porn pictures. No camera battery right?
Ruby and Elle share a Chicken Caesar Salad, I have a cheeseburger and I can’t remember what Kay had. For dessert Ruby and Kay split a vanilla bean cheesecake while Elle and I dive into a raspberry chocolate truffle cheesecake.

Fully sated, we stagger back to the car and head back to the hotel. We have an early morning coming up the next day, so this one is done.

Coming up: Surf and Sharks

So was sthe burger good stuff? uh oh, computer messing up,,, great chapter Ponzi,,, really enjoyed it.

 

[jedijill]

The lost photos of Ponzi on his horse:

Jill in CO

 

[queenbetsey]

Great chapter! Tried horseback riding on the beach out here and had my horse bolt back to the barn. Sared the dickens out of me. Sadly developement has eaten that part of the coastline up so I am glad I did that but that was the last time I got on one of those things. Give me a nice save ride on EE
Would love the link to the recipes though, I think I may have missed o few.
Can't wait for the school year to end so I can try them out after a three day trip to DLR.
oh yeah here is my recipe, haven't tried this yet but will in a couple weeks


Zebra Coffee Dome Boma, Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge


Share





Recipe Ingredients

•1 pound Milk Chocolate
• 2 ounces Espresso Coffee
• 5 Egg Yolks
• 2 = ounces Sugar
• 6 sheets Gelatin
• 4 ounces Kahlua Liqueur
• 4 cups Heavy Cream
• 6 ounces White Chocolate Ganache
• 2 ounces Dark Chocolate Ganache
•


Recipe Directions

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Melt milk chocolate, Whip heavy cream to soft peaks. Mix yolks with sugar. Soften gelatin leaves in cold water. Mix gelatin with Kahlua and coffee. Set bowl over hot water bath to dissolve the gelatin. Fold 1/3 of whipped cream into the chocolate. Add the yolks, then the gelatin mixture. Fold in the rest of the cream. Pour mousse in Flexipan domes almost to the top. Place sponge circle on top. Leave in the freezer to set. Once hard, unmold and place in glazing racks. Make white chocolate ganache and chocolate ganache. Put chocolate ganache in a pastry bag. Ladle white chocolate ganache to cover each dome. Simultaneously, pipe Aa stripe design of chocolate ganache over the dome. Refrigerate to allow the glaze to set. Decorate the bottom edge with coffee crunch.

 

[Lady Elle]

ok, heres the deal guys Kay's pearl was 60% off and not 40%, she got the best deal they had. But at the end of the day spending 7$ is better than 85$, yes i got my cage on sale for 7$!+a free pearl!

 

[smidgy]

wow! I post some pretty clever things when I'm not here!

ponzie, I LOVE the pictures.! that horse ride, with that scenery, would be a dream!!! (not that I could EVER get Nebo to agree to go anywhere except disney) he would probably be "bored" without a theme park to go to.
but God sure did a great job when he created Hawaii!!!!

 

[laura74]

If I'm not too late, here's a recipe for Magic Cookie Bars.


Magic Cookie Bars
1 1/2 Cups of Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/2 Cup butter, melted
1 (14 Oz) can of Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Cup Chocolate Chips
1 Cup Butterscotch Chips
1 Cup Caramel Chips or chopped candy
1 1/3 Cups Flaked Coconut
1 Cup Chopped Nuts

Preheat your oven to 350. In a small bowl, combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter. Mix well and press the crumb mixture firmly on the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan. Sprinkle caramel over. Layer the chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, and nuts on top of the melted caramel. Then pour the sweetened condensed milk evenly on top.

Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool and cut. Store at room temperature covered.

 

[Heluvsme]

Great chapter!! Great pictures!

 

[pkondz]

everybody knows that famous quote/line, it's from Bill Denbrough.

I started to watch It back in the 90s... not sure if I watched all of it. I find the thing with Stephen King novels... great to read, not so great translated to the screen.

Ok, hats, long pants, exactly what part of your body is lathered with sun screen?

eyes

And, why?

red eye

or do you just like lathering yourself up with sunscreen?

Who doesn't? Don't you?

Wait, you're not talking about doin it to the horses,,, right,,, right?

Well you don't want the horse to burn, do you? That would be a horse of a dif... never mind.

Um, just wondering: don't all animals with tail have "prehensile tails" meaning, they have control of them and what they do? I never heard of a house cat having a prehensile tail,,, but either one of my cats can walk past the coffee table and with the slightest flick of the ol tail, knock over a freshly made manhattaon or a galls of wine.

That's not prehensile... that's spiteful.


Sigh, after all these reports,,, what part of SunnyD's didn't you understand? So what if you were half in the saddlebag by the end of your cattle drive?

I'm half in the saddle again...

Oh yes, Longhorns are very good at being patient and staying in a waiting area untill they are given a chance to follow the instructions newly received and showing off their listening skills.

Yes. It truly moooves me.

Okay, I’ll shut up now. No you won't.

You're right. I won't. But just for you.

Ok, am I the only one picturing all four of you in clown outfits and rubber ball noses all sitting at least a little bit on top of one horse sharing a part of the saddle?

It did happen that way. I just forgot to take the picture. Maybe next time.

Ah yes, Atlas. Greek mythology. Supported the world on his shoulders, I believe.No, Smidgy supported His weight on her lap for 15 trips to Florida.

That's true! I forgot that. So really, I was on a horse that was on Smidgy's lap.

Im, uh, uh, gonna leave that one alone. Well, both alone.

Funny. We make quite a pair, no?

It's called Stonehenge, it's in England, i told you you can't trust those United Airling pilots,,, they just won't ask for directions!
geesh!

Well, that would explain the delay.

That is one reason I've kind of balked at going to Hawaii, I know me, and it's going to make me depressed seeing and thinking about that morning, 70 years ago.

Hmmm... I really wish I could've seen the Arizona memorial. Everyone I know that's seen it has said it's very moving. I don't know that I'd be depressed, but I'm sure I would've been subdued for the rest of the day. And considering we went riding in the afternoon, maybe the ride wouldn't have been as enjoyable.

And you told her you don'[t like touching bat droppings?

I did! And she said to tell you to come out for a ride... something about taking you out, leaving you without food and water... something like that.

I guess she doesn't appreciate your humour as much as the rest of us.

that's beautiful,,,, it would have been nicely played,,,, if you had done it,,,, I'm gonnna pretend you did.

I might've... if she'd been a different person. But she was such a great tour guide that I just couldn't do it. Or want to, actually.

great, something else to worry about,,,
peel and eat guava/guano.

And you don't even have to de-plane it!

cool, happened to me once from a bee biting my horse,,, he took off back to the barn at full bore,, and across two roads without looking both ways first!

Well next time, don't get the bee to sting him.
Sounds pretty scary though.

You are kidding rightf? Your just waiting for somebody to say,,, "When you fall off a horse, you just have to climb right back on and try it again. " but it's not gonna be me,,, oh no, I'm not gonna say it.

Me neither. Wait! I didn't say it! phew!

Yeah, what do you tip a horse after two hours?

Actually, I made a point of stumbling to the front of the line and tipping Randy. Don't know if she shared (I tipped enough for both) or not. Don't care.

DId you get that big water blister on the tailbone?

Weren't you paying attention? No Water!

I aTE THERE 6 months ago in a suburb here,,, nothing special.

Yeah, the food's so so. But the cheesecake selection is great!

So was sthe burger good stuff? uh oh, computer messing up,,, great chapter Ponzi,,, really enjoyed it.

The burger was just okay. The salad that Ruby and Elle split was only so so... but the dessert was good.

Glad you enjoyed the chapter. It ain't easy trying to meet the high standard that you set!

 

[pkondz]

Oh man. I've been busy at work and now I feel like I'm late to the party. I have cookie recipes! Can I still post them?

Of course you can... and should!

Ponzi, i won't get a chance to respond to your latest entry until tomorrow but I hope to bring my C game.

Ooh, I love games. Tag! You're it!

Oh yes, that Raffi Torrez from Vancouver was always saying he's sorry as he'd put another Blackhawk in the ICU ward.

See? Always apologizing.


Marie the Librarian

I don't know if you posted as Smidgy by mistake or not... I hope it was a mistake.... just makes it funnier!

I was thinking maybe:

Sheriffff Rosco P Coultrain OR maybe Couter the mechanic? Maybe Boss Hogg??? Nah Ponzi has too much class for Boss Hogg.

Yeah, Nebo's already got dibs on him.

Man am I glad I wasn't the first one to show my age here (well maybe I was with the whole Gilligan's Island reference (and that my friends started in the 60's so imagine where I'm coming from. Also

Yup. Cat's out of the bag. You're easily 18 - 19... maybe early 20s.

I will give my best Lemon Bar recipe to ANYONE who can name all 6 of the Walton kids... Ready.... Go! OH AND NO GOOGLING or other types of look ups on the World Wide Web!

Aaahhh! I never watched the Waltons! All I remember was it was before The Wonderful World of Disney and I'd catch the tail end where everyone was saying "Goodnight John Boy" until he became totally unhinged and killed everybody off.

Truth is... lemon is probably my favorite flavor and I've been looking for a really good lemon bar recipe. Please, please, please post it!

Hey Thumper man, help me out here:
You were doing a great job having breakdowns, please, don't stop because of me.

What he said!

I just like picking out a few things and insulting Ponzi on them, that's all I'm good for.

Trust me... he's very good at it.

I do think that doing another would be over kill right now, what can I possible have to tell that I haven't already?

Start with how you travelled with your back out and work forward.

Your fans have spoken, dude.

And Ponzi is doing a great job.

Why, thanks!

I don't know, I just hate to see you waste good sarcasm when It could be directed at Ponzi.

Yeah!... Hey!

Well, little Buckeroo, you carry your water in your handy dandy canteen, that is slung around the saddle horn.

And follow the tumblin' tumble weeds.

Ponzi, another great chapter! DH has him and the kids scheduled for a 2 hour horseback ride in Yellowstone this summer, but I bowed out, I don't think I could survive 2 hours on a horse. The same goes for wild water rafting and long hikes. I will spend my Yellowstone vacation in a Best Western room with my laptop, LOL.

Thanks for the compliment!
You sound like Ruby. She was more than happy to be at her conference while we did the physical activities stuff. But horseback riding is pretty easy. You're just sitting there. And the soreness goes away after a bit.

The lost photos of Ponzi on his horse:

Jill in CO

At least I'm not side-saddle!

 

[laura74]

Two Pearl or not to Pearl - Part 2

Hi-yo Silver, Away!

We arrived at Kualoa Ranch the required 30 minutes before scheduled departure time. It’s required because they have a gift shop and they have to make sure you have enough time to buy lots of useless crap that will be shoved in a closet and only re-discovered when you move or die.

We put all our useless crap in the basement.


And am I the only one who thinks Koala Ranch? I think we have to go another 5700 miles to get to a koala ranch.

A koala ranch would be the cutest thing ever.


We walk up to the check in counter and let ‘em know we’re here. Yup, there’s our reservation and I’m having reservations on how to hold a bottle of water in one hand, a camera in another hand and the reins in another hand.

What about your fourth hand? You're Canadian, right?

Boy I sure could use the prehensile tale from that monkey at Chinaman’s hat.

You can spell prehensile correctly, but not tail?

I’m really making a mountain out of a mole hill here.

That's what trip reporting is all about.

We head off to the loading area at the designated time and wait around like cattle to be told what to do.

Like that? See how I did that? It’s a ranch, right? Cattle? See?

Good one.

Okay, I’ll shut up now.

Yeah, right.


The people in charge were mostly young girls (around 20?) who seemed to know what they were doing. Eventually, we all got into a saddle.

One saddle for all of you?

Considering I was the only male of the four of us, shouldn’t I have been on Blue? I mean considering how parts of me were going to feel after a two hour horseback ride.




The good.

There were about a dozen riders in our group. We were at the end of the line. We had two guides. There was the first girl who I cleverly called girl 1. She was at the front of the line, so never did learn her name. At the tail end with us was Randy. Randy was terrific. She really made this ride great. I had asked her a few questions (Come here often? What’s your sign? Can I buy you a drink? Whoops! Skip that last one.)

Charmer.


Apparently they were a direct result of the attack on Pearl Harbor. The military wanted to ensure that the troups would have a place to shelter from an attack so all these bunkers were built. Supposedly they could still be used today… but looking at them, I’m not too sure how much use they’d be against today’s weapons. Interesting, but a little sad too.

Those bunkers could definitely use a woman's touch.

We left the bunkers behind and were treated with some beautiful scenery. Well what’d you expect? It’s Hawaii for Pete’s sake!

Beautiful!


That’s Randy in blue off to the left. Shortly after I shot this, she dropped back and asked if I’d ever had Guava right off a tree. I said no and she looked surprised and said, “Really?”

Yeah, we’ve got tons of guava trees in Canada. By the way, Randy, have you ever sucked on an icicle straight off an eaves trough? No? “Really?”



She plucks four off the branches and gives one to each of us. Remember that there were about a dozen people on this ride? She only gave the guava to our family. I’m guessing it was the ‘What’s your sign’ line that did it.

That Ponzi charm again.


This is how our family works.
I eat mine.
Ruby eats hers.
Elle takes a bite or two and decides she doesn’t like it… and carries it for the next 1/2 hour until Randy spies it and tells her it’s okay to toss it on the ground.
Kay takes one tentative bite and pitches it over her shoulder.

If this were us, Mr. Squid would eat the whole thing without a thought, Monkson would look at it and cry and I'd probably be like Elle and carry around a half eaten guava for the rest of the ride.


The picture might not have the same effect on you as being there did on me. In one of the Jurassic Park movies, there’s a scene where the professor (and Mary Anne… sorry wrong show) and the kids huddle behind a log while a herd? flock? gaggle? bunch of dinosaurs runs over and around them. This is the meadow where it was filmed.

Wow! Good eye!

The bad.

After living happily during the last 48 hours or so, my camera battery decided now would be the best time to give up the ghost. Just as we were getting to the best part of the tour!

I hate when that happens. Our video camera battery always starts sputtering right before Monkston's part in any number of school things.


Luckily, none of the DDs brought their cameras with them either.

Luckily?

Here’s a rundown.

We were shown an area where a scene was filmed for Lost.

There’s a scene in Windtalkers where Nicholas Cage is filmed overlooking the battle scene from a high cliff. We saw the “high cliff” it was a little rise about 10 feet in height.

We saw the view from the closing scenes for both Mighty Joe Young and George of the Jungle.

We saw props left over from Mysterious Island (the new one, with The Rock).

And my two favorites:

There were three shallow giant footprints from 1998s Godzilla. Shallow? Didn’t Mathew Broderick fall in one? Apparently they were originally about 6 feet deep. But the cows kept falling in and couldn’t get out.

These are all such guy shows! I have no idea what you're talking about.

The roadway where Adam Sandler tries to meet, and re-meet Drew Barymore in 50 First Dates… including the bushes where she beats up Rob Schneider with a baseball bat.
Love that movie. Not as good as The Wedding Singer… but good.

Finally one I can relate to!

The ugly.

We’re about an hour and a half into our ride and heading for home when it happens. One of the horses up ahead shies from something and another nips at it or kicks it. Not sure exactly what precipitated it, but the result was one horse getting spooked and running off.

Now these tours are meant for people with limited to zero experience on horseback.

The horse takes off and I can see that the young man in the saddle is starting to lean farther and farther off to the left. The guides are trying to yell instructions as they gallop off in pursuit, but it’s too late. The guy is thrown from the horse and lands heavily on his side. Luckily, for being thrown, he does exactly the right thing… he kicks his left foot out of the stirrup and so prevents himself from getting dragged.

He was a little banged up (scraped knee and hand, I believe) but otherwise seemed okay. The guides offered to have a jeep come and take him the rest of the way, but he declined and clambered back on the horse. I gotta give the guy credit for having the guts to mount up again.

That's frightening! It's a good thing the guy had some common sense. I have a feeling if it were me, the horse would have dragged me away.

As the end of the tour approached, so did the hardest part. Getting off the horse after sitting in one position for the last two hours.

I walked funny all the way back to the car… but nobody was laughing. Well nobody was laughing with me.



...

We drove back into Honolulu and headed out for supper. Ruby had picked the evening’s restaurant and she had decided on The Cheescake Café. If you’ve never been to one, it’s just like you imagine… except bigger. We don’t have one in Winnipeg, but had eaten at one in Alberta and another in Vegas… see a trend here?

Do you mean Cheesecake Factory? I love that place and they're finally building one in our town.

It looks like Cheesecake Cafe is a Canadian knockoff.

We wander back outside to serve our sentence.

Good one!

While we’re waiting outside, we keep hearing a bell ringing. I look over and see a pick a pearl kiosk. Hey! Just like Japan in Epcot! Cool! I wanted to do that last time we were in Disney, but the girls were (IMHO) too young. We sashay over and the young girl at the counter explains that we can pick a prize which will be 10 to 40 percent off a pearl. No obligation.

I think I see where this is going...

Kay picks a prize and “wins” 40% off. The pearls are only $12 so it’s not a huge prize… but still it’s about $5 off. Kay picks her oyster. Interestingly enough, I’ve read on the DIS that the best oysters are the ugliest ones, and the girl at the counter says the same thing. Kay picks a butt-ugly oyster… and sure enough she gets a really nice black pearl. If she had a choice, it’s what she would’ve picked so… score! Pearl girl rings a bell in triumph. That’s where the bell ringing comes from. Every time some sucker… um… I mean lucky customer gets a pearl, she rings her bell announcing the lightening of a wallet or purse.

The pearl girl oohs and ahhs over the pearl, polishes it up then drills a hole in it “in case you want to mount it.”

Uh huh.

“Did you want to mount it? Here are some nice silver mounts.” The mounts are around $50. I let Kay pick one… every time we go on a vacation, Ruby and/or I will buy one gift for each brat.

Suckers.

Anything else that they want… they’re on their own. So Kay picks her mount… but now she needs a chain, right? Total cost for her $7 pearl? About $85.

Thought so.

The pearl girl turns to Elle and asks if she’d like one too. I say, no. The pearl girl says Elle can have one for free! I tell Elle that I’m not buying a second mount and chain. Elle replies, “That’s okay, I saw a nice cage for a pearl for $12.

Oh. Now you tell me.

D'oh!

Elle gets a nice pink pearl. Again, it’s exactly what she wanted.

Aw.

Our buzzer goes off and we head in for dinner. Again, no food porn pictures. No camera battery right?
Ruby and Elle share a Chicken Caesar Salad, I have a cheeseburger and I can’t remember what Kay had. For dessert Ruby and Kay split a vanilla bean cheesecake while Elle and I dive into a raspberry chocolate truffle cheesecake.

I've had the raspberry white chocolate cheesecake and it was amazing.

Fully sated, we stagger back to the car and head back to the hotel. We have an early morning coming up the next day, so this one is done.

Coming up: Surf and Sharks

Thanks for the great chapter Ponzi!

 

[pkondz]

Great chapter! Tried horseback riding on the beach out here and had my horse bolt back to the barn. Sared the dickens out of me. Sadly developement has eaten that part of the coastline up so I am glad I did that but that was the last time I got on one of those things. Give me a nice save ride on EE

Geez, it sounds more and more common for the horses to get spooked. Guess that's why you gotta sign those waivers.

Would love the link to the recipes though, I think I may have missed o few.
Can't wait for the school year to end so I can try them out after a three day trip to DLR.

The link to all the recipes is on the 2nd post of the TR. Happy baking!

Plus thanks for the recipe. I've heard that it's complicated, and as I mentioned earlier, I'm a little intimidated by it and don't want to mess up a good thing. I may give it a whirl though.

BTW sent you a PM.

ok, heres the deal guys Kay's pearl was 60% off and not 40%, she got the best deal they had. But at the end of the day spending 7$ is better than 85$, yes i got my cage on sale for 7$!+a free pearl!

Okay, okay. So that's two mistakes I made. Sheesh! Who knew it was going to be so tough with a referee looking over your shoulder.

Now... can you guess what percentage of your allowance your getting this week? Hmmm????

wow! I post some pretty clever things when I'm not here!

I've always thought you were clever Smidgy...

which is why I was so confused at 'your' posts.

ponzie, I LOVE the pictures.! that horse ride, with that scenery, would be a dream!!! (not that I could EVER get Nebo to agree to go anywhere except disney) he would probably be "bored" without a theme park to go to.
but God sure did a great job when he created Hawaii!!!!

It was breathtaking! I'm so glad we did it.

If I'm not too late, here's a recipe for Magic Cookie Bars.

Not too late! Thanks for the recipe!

Great chapter!! Great pictures!

Thanks! More pics in the next chapter.

 

[shan23877]

Great update! I'm not real outdoorsy, but that tour sounds awesome. I love anything to do with "behind the scenes" stuff for TV and movies, thanks for sharing.

What a great deal on the pearls!!! Though it sounds like Elle's was actually pretty inexpensive?

Can't wait to read more!

 

[bankr63]

That's hillarious! It looks vaguely familiar but I can't place it. Where's it from?

That's it!! Ponzi's name is actually Carmen!! Or is it Carmine? Last name Sandiego...

 

[jedijill]

That's it!! Ponzi's name is actually Carmen!! Or is it Carmine? Last name Sandiego...

Where in the world?

Jill in Co

 

[pkondz]

Great update! I'm not real outdoorsy, but that tour sounds awesome. I love anything to do with "behind the scenes" stuff for TV and movies, thanks for sharing.

You're welcome! It was an unexpected bonus. There is a movie tour that isn't on horseback. I considered it, but decided on this instead. We got the best of both worlds.

What a great deal on the pearls!!! Though it sounds like Elle's was actually pretty inexpensive?

Yup. Elle had a cage picked out for $12 then found the same one for $7. I'll see if I can get pictures of them to post.

Can't wait to read more!

Me too! I wonder what'll happen next... oh, wait. I gotta write it, don't I.

That's it!! Ponzi's name is actually Carmen!! Or is it Carmine? Last name Sandiego...

Where in the world?

Jill in Co

No comment... except. See next post.

 

[pkondz]

So a recent guess in the nearly defunct name game was Carmine...
so any guesses on why I'd post this as a reply?

Will I go from rags to riches?

 

[laura74]

So a recent guess in the nearly defunct name game was Carmine...
so any guesses on why I'd post this as a reply?

Will I go from rags to riches?

Eddie Mekka played Carmine on Laverne & Shirley.