Smith Family RV Bootcamp: Horseback Trail Riding With Amaya—or

When we checked in to the campground, Amaya overheard the attendant mention that they offered horseback trail rides. The next morning she was up at the crack of dawn begging me to take her to the stables and sign her up to ride. They said that she was old enough to ride, but it was $90 a pop and they didn't have any openings for a couple of days. After several hours of her pleading to ride, I finally agreed to spring for it. Of course it wasn't until after I had told her that she could go, and we went to confirm the reservation, that they mentioned that she was not old enough to participate without an accompanying adult.... who would also be charged $90. Right. So, what started as an expensive treat turned into a doubly-expensive affair obliging me to go along for the ride. Ugh. Ok, it was too late to bail now without major drama, so I decided to play the hero and chalk it up to a super-special morning of father–daughter one-on-one time with Amaya.

Amaya and Her Trusty Steed, Cappuccino

We got up early, had a good breakfast, and headed to the stables. The woman "wrangler" was a super-crunchy, affable lady in her 50s who welcomed Amaya with a big smile. The horses, for the most part, had been working here for several years and were pretty tame trail steeds accustomed to following each other around. I was a little nervous at first, but it became clear pretty quickly that my horse (Chestnut) was not going to venture more than a nose-length away from the tail of Amaya's horse (Cappuccino).

Tail Trail

The trail ride was beautiful. The scenery was much like that from the hike with Keiko the day before, but we travelled much further into the pine forest and much higher up into the hills. Amaya was having a great time, of course, and I was starting to enjoy myself, too, until I began to notice that I was getting a stuffy nose. I started sneezing and then getting a bit short of breath. Crap. I was having an allergic reaction to something—presumably the horse. It wasn't a terribly bad episode and I didn't want to spoil Amaya's ride, so I toughed it out—but it wasn't much fun. By the time we were done, I was wheezing pretty deeply and had a splitting headache. It didn't help that were were barely able to walk back to the RV when we were done! Spaghetti legs!

Amaya and Daddy, Horseback

I didn't have much of a choice but to pop a Benadryl when I got back, fully knowing that this would pretty much put me out of commission for the rest of the day. That stuff just turns me in to a zombie. We had a lunch date with Rachelle's friends Gail and Hector Gonzales, who were driving from Oakland to meet us at Half Moon Bay. The allergy symptoms went away within an hour, but I don't think I was much of a conversationalist at lunch. We spent some time walking down the old Main Street in Half Moon Bay, but Hector didn't feel well either, so we headed our separate ways sooner than we had planned.

By the time evening came, I was feeling better but needed to get some fresh air. Rachelle and the girls watched the Muppet Movie (which I had already watched with the girls the night before while Rachelle was passed out). Since we had already extended our stay by an extra day and this was going to be our final night at Costanoa, I decided to take a little hike on the trails down by the shore. A cold wind was blowing and it was starting to get dark, but I'm glad I didn't miss this.