Day 6: Celebrating Grandma Yuri and Horseback Riding

At the northern most point of Kaneohe Bay, the family gathered at Kualoa Regional Park for a small, casual service in honor of Grandma Yuri. Then, as the tide was heading out, we waded out and spread her ashes where Grandpa Manny's were spread here 17 years ago.

It was followed by a small chinese luncheon at Joyful Garden Restaurant we were caught up with relatives we hadn't seen in years.

Since we were on this side of the island already, we enjoyed a 2-hour horseback ride through Kualoa Ranch. Established in 1850, Kualoa is a 4000 acre working cattle ranch, spread from the steep mountain cliffs to the sparkling sea. Located on the northeastern side of Oahu in the Hawaiian countryside, it is less than an hour from Honolulu. The ranch terrain varies from dense rainforest to broad open valleys and from beautiful white sand beaches to awesome verdant cliff faces.

KUALOA NAME: Kualoa means 'long back'; the ranch is full of beautiful valleys and mountain peaks.
There are two major areas of the ranch: the northern half of the ranch including Ka'a'awa Valley which contains most of the movie locations sites, and the southern half that includes Hakipu`u Valley, the 800 year-old Moli'i fishpond, and Secret Island. If the ranch's views look familiar, that's because Kualoa Ranch has been the site of many television shows and Hollywood films such as Jurassic park, Windtalkers, Pearl Harbor, Godzilla, Tears of the Sun and 50 First Dates. TV shows include Hawaii Five-O, Magnun P.I. and most recently the hit show LOST.