Waking Up in Hawaii!

Sipping coffee and overlooking Yokohama Bay

On our first full day in Hawaii, we woke up really early because our bodies thought it was 10:30 AM instead of 4:30.   Tim and I had the day off so that we could acclimate to the time change, rest from the tiring day before, and acquaint ourselves with the area.  Denise and Art had to work, but the positive side of waking up so early is that we still had time to explore a little before they started work for the day.  Since we hadn't bought groceries yet, we headed to McDonald's for breakfast and our morning coffee, and then up the coast a little ways.  

We drove to the end of the road, where the western tip of the island, Ka'ena Point, is about 3 miles away.  You have to walk to get there because the road really ends, and that's definitely on our list of things to do. As we were about to leave Yokohama Bay, we saw a beautiful rainbow!

We pulled over on the side of the road on the way back to Waianae to explore Makua Cave. We walked back as far as we could, but to go further would require crawling through a small hole.  This is NOT on my list of things to do.

After dropping Denise and Art back off at Pu'u Kahea, Tim and I headed out of Waianae for the day just to see what we could see.  We quickly realized that we would be pulling off the road a LOT!

Those of you who know Tim will NOT be shocked to see that he is on his phone.  "Hello Irvin!"

The North Shore

Ka'ena Point State Park

We headed up to the North Shore, which wouldn't be far AT ALL if that road I mentioned earlier went all the way around the point.  But it doesn't, so instead of driving 15 minutes up the leeward (western) side of the island, you have to drive south, then east, then north.  And an hour later, if there's no traffic, you are back at Ka'ena Point, about 6 miles from where we had our coffee this morning. And it is OH SO BEAUTIFUL!

It is a very rocky shore on this part of the island, with great big chunks of lava rock.  The road ends on this side too, with a 3+ mile walk out to the western point.  We will save that for another day too.

One of Tim's favorite things about Ka'ena Point was watching the gliders soaring overhead.  They are tethered to a motorized plane until they are airborne, and then land at a nearby landing strip.

Hale'iwa

We drove into the historic (and famous) North Shore town of Hale'iwa. This is where where major surfing events take place during the winter.  That's when the huge waves appear.

And it's where the famous shrimp trucks are, with this (Giovanni's) being one of the most well-known.  We ate at a dirty picnic table with a lot of strangers and flies, with chickens running around our feet, and loved every minute of it.  (Almost. We really didn't enjoy the flies that much.)

And once again, for those of you who know Tim, he didn't really enjoy the messy eating!

 

 Matsumoto's

And what's a trip to the North Shore without trying their famous Shave Ice?!  You can get it plain, or served over ice cream OR served over beans.  Hmmm.  We chose ice cream.

After leaving Hale'iwa, we traveled further north, then back down the windward side around the eastern shore of Oahu. 

This is Turtle Beach.  We didn't see turtles, but we'll be back another day!

One thing that has amazed us is that on our side of the island and all the parts we've explored so far, there are no large buildings/high rises/condominiums anywhere.  I know that they are in the Honolulu/Waikiki area, but we haven't been there yet.  I actually read that other than at Waikiki, there are only about a dozen resorts on Oahu.  The road winds along by the ocean, and when you want a closer view, you just pull over on the side of the road and walk less than 50 yards down to the water.

Chinaman's Hat

We ended our day by getting stuck in the Honolulu traffic trying to get back to our side of the island, then finding a Target where we finally bought a few groceries for an astronomical price, and then eating some of said groceries and collapsing into bed for the night! 

What a great day!