As Texas was experiencing it's first, and unusual, November cold spell, I was soaking up the warmth of Hawaii. I got to go to Oahu last week. I got in late on Tuesday, and had actually traveled to Hawaii for business. The people that I was meeting, brought me a pretty, and wonderful smelling, fresh ginger lei...
Since I got in late on Tuesday, Wednesday was my first real day to take in the beauty of the island. This was the view from my hotel...
I headed toward the North Shore on Wednesday, and made a stop first thing at the Dole Plantation.
I took advantage of the Dole store, and the cafe, where I had my first (but definitely not last) Dole Whip Float (Dole Whip and Pineapple Juice). Oh. My. Word! If I could only eat one thing for the rest of my life, I think a Dole Whip Float is a real contender...
I enjoyed the Dole gardens as I sipped my float. Lots of pretty plants and lots of bananas...
I took the Pineapple Express Train Tour of the Plantation, where I enjoyed seeing the crops and learning more about pineapples (turns out I've been picking them all wrong in the store!)...
After leaving Dole, I continued North on Hwy 99 toward North Beach. Once you top this hill, you can see the monster waves coming it. It's an awesome sight, and you almost can't believe that waves are what you are seeing...
I stopped at a food truck village so that I could get some famous shrimp from Giovanni's truck...
I got half scampi and half lemon/butter. I wanted to try the Hot & Spicy, but that warning on the menu scared me off!
After lunch, I went into the historic town of Haleiwa, where I walked around town, and even discovered that there was a surfing competition going on...
I walked back into town, and stopped at Matsumoto's, another Hawaiian institution for a Hawaiian ice...
I left Haleiwa and headed east toward the Windward side of Oahu on Highway 83. My plan was to drive around the island and stop at various beaches I had read about. This beach is Laniakea Beach. Lanieaka Beach usually has the large sea turtles on the beach eating algae off of the rocks, but the waves were too big that day for the turtles to come up.
I have no idea what this is... anyone know?
This huge, beautiful tree is located at the base of the Waimea Falls hike (which I ultimately decided not to do because of time)...
I'm not 100% sure what this spot is called. I know that I walked down a scary looking path to get down to this point, but it was absolutely worth it. The waves were coming in against the rocks like nothing I had ever seen. It was amazing!
This is in Laie. I loved this beach so much, and ultimately came back here to just read and lay on the beach on Saturday...
This is an old sugar mill ruins from 1864
This is the beautiful drive along H3...
For dinner I walked from the hotel in Waikiki to the restaurant...
Dinner was at Roy's Hawaiian
I went with the tasting menu...
Appetizer was a spring roll, Szechuan rib, and a shrimp skewer...
I selected the macadamia nut crusted monchong with kona cold lobster sauce
And dessert was the melting hot chocolate soufflé.
It was so good! After a long day, and not much sleep the night before, I was ready for bed!
Stay tuned for Day 2...
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