Mountains Gandalf! Mountains!

Good morning Sunshine. (Susan's handy work. I was usually asleep at sunrise b/c thats about the time Georgina would go back to sleep after breakfast).

In Hawaii we've seen a lot of things, but one of the things we did not get to see so much are the mountains in the center of the island and around the southeast coast where Kailua is. So in the car rides I couldn't help myself from crying out "Mountains Gandalf! Mountains!" or singing the opening theme song to Jurassic Park. Coincidentally enough, Jurassic Park was filmed here! And these are the mountains that they used for a lot of the film:

Those pics are mostly for Justin (don't tell his girlfriend). There were so many Japanese girls dressed in the cutest cowgirl outfits on their horseback ride through the ranch.

That last pic. is what they call China Man's Hat. Really un-PC, but I guess its not really offensive because later when we went to the Japanese Temple they had a pic. that a Chinese photographer took of himself sitting on the beach in front of China Man's hat wearing a China man's hat. John ended up buying it, so if you are ever over his house you'll have to look it up.

This whole place Corey called "Koala Ranch" but it was actually something much more Hawaiian sounding. I can't remember how it was spelled though. (Side note: I'm in China at the moment, writing this blog, and I just Googled Koala Ranch, and found Kualoa Ranch, so she really wasn't that far off for one. Two, there is Google in China, just no facebook.)

Susan, Ruth, and Corey all took the tour offered there to go into the ranch on horseback, so here are some of their photos from their trip:

You might recognize those last few as the open field where Grant and the kids were walking and Grant notices that the "oversized chicken" like dinosaurs are running just like a flock of birds evading a predator... big "Duhhh" moment... the T-Rex comes out of the trees and snatches one in its teeth.

These next pictures are from Hurley's golf course from LOST:

And then there were some from Pearl Harbor, Mighty Joe Young, and a bunch of others; well here:

Joe, John and I went on our own hike, but we couldn't make it very far b/c you are not allowed to hike on the premises. Only paid tours are allowed, and while we weren't necessarily kicked out, we felt a bulldozer was kinda out to get us, so we left. But not before getting a little closer to some of the "attractions."