And so today we headed off to ride horses. We are a horsey family. I rode from the age of nine until I moved to Hawaii 32 years later, then decided they had taken up a big part of my life and wanted to do something different, and turned to the ocean and the mountains for my exercise and entertainment.

Chelsea started riding seriously about the same age that I did and moved away from horses when she had babies and had other responsibilities. Those who have ever had horses know what a huge money pit and responsibility they are. But when they are in your blood, they are there to stay.

While Jai and Lylah🤍 weren’t blessed with the same horse crazy that Chelsea and I were, they both took lessons for several years and were natural in their seat.

So what a perfect place for us to all enjoy a ride together, than where it all began, for me at least.

The man who was to lead us on our journey today overslept, so we were left to knock on doors and windows until we roused him.

Finally, he lead us into a dark cavern of a house, easily hundreds of years old. Past saddles and saddle pads, boots and bins of mysterious horsey objects. As we signed our life away, he regaled us with his method of riding, Passive Horsemanship, for far longer than we wanted or anticipated. An hour later it was time to fit us for boots and helmets.

“What size shoe do you wear?” He asked me. When I told him my size, which I believe by UK standards would be even bigger, he looked down at my large feet and said, “well, they’re quite useful”.

Anyone who l knows me, knows that I lost it at that point. Like, bent at the waist, crying, lost it. After all, we’d had an hour of covert, when are we going to ride? Glances at each other, and needed to let off some steam.

Finally, two hours later, the horses were caught, groomed and saddled and we were off.

The horses were great, not old nags. The trail took us through a beautiful English forest and up 800 feet into the majestic, scenic Cotswolds.

The views of half of England it seemed, were spectacular.

After four hours we were off in search of, what turned out to be, a very disappointing lunch.

We have been extraordinarily lucky with great accommodations so far, but have fallen short in the food department.

I did try to warn everyone before we came that England is not known for its fine cuisine…

But the day was amazing overall. We drove through several beautiful small villages.

Let’s talk about the driving for a minute. Chelsea has risen to the occasion like a duck to water. Not only on the opposite side of the car and the road, but the windy, curvy, narrow roads with zero shoulders and everyone tearing around at 60 mph are enough to leave one sitting in the corner sucking their thumb. Not dissimilar to many Hawaii roads though, Chelsea is not intimidated and handling them like a trooper.

Tomorrow, we are off to Ireland, stay tuned…