Hawaii trip - day 2, part 2

Monday April 9 - driving tour of the north shore

If you remember back to part 1, Bill had agreed to show me around the island of Oahu while K and Susan had their "spa and shopping day".

One of our objectives for Monday was a tour of Oahu's north shore, the less developed and less congested side of the island. The north shore features dramatic scenery, accessible beaches, and some of the biggest waves you'll see on the islands -- in fact, the north shore is widely regarded as one of the best surfing locations anywhere in the world.

Ominous signs warning of rough water are posted along most of the north shore beaches.

A small crowd was on hand at Sunset Beach to watch the surfers...

Several photographers were on hand, hoping to get shots of the surfers.

Parts of the north shore coastline were rocky, and were incessantly smashed by large waves.

The north shore's single highway was blocked by a rock slide near Waimea, so we had to turn around and head back east. We'd have to go all the way back to Kane'ohe and back through Honolulu and then go north to complete our tour.

Roadside "shrimp shacks" appear to be sort of a north shore trademark; we stopped for lunch at Romy's in Kahuku for a feast of shrimp and prawns, which are harvested daily from ponds adjacent to Romy's "shack". The prices were a bit on the high side, but the shrimp was delicious... it was well worth the time we took to stop.

Romy's Shrimp & Prawns in Kahuku (Oahu north shore)

Later, we enjoyed the scenery as we headed back east toward Kane'ohe...

eastbound on Highway 83

a windblown tree near Kane'ohe

After circling around through Honolulu and then heading northwest, we concluded our tour at Matsumoto Shave Ice in Hale'iwa. Matsumoto's is widely regarded as one of the best -- and is certainly one of the most famous -- of Hawaii's shave ice establishments. A family-owned business, Matsumoto's has been around for over 50 years. Customers can choose from a variety of flavors, and can even specify the addition of ice cream (recommended!) or "Azuki" beans to their shave ice. While you wait in line (there is always a line) you can scan the walls, admiring dozens of Matsumoto t-shirt designs, which are of course available for purchase.

The legendary Matsumoto store...

After making our obligatory shave ice and t-shirt purchases, we headed back to town for dinner.

On Tuesday, K and I left Honolulu and caught a flight to the Big Island. Stay tuned for more...

WSC

np: Junior Brown - "Surf Medley" from the album "Semi Crazy"

nr: Ruby El Hult - Northwest Disaster

Hawaii trip - day 1

Easter Sunday, April 8

Our plane left D-FW as scheduled, and actually arrived in Honolulu about 30 minutes ahead of schedule. Unfortunately, that's when things started to go downhill. At first, our plane couldn't taxi to the gate due to "equipment" being left in the way. Then, when we got to the gate, the jet bridge wouldn't extend to the plane, so we had to sit while the airport sent someone to fix it. When we finally got off the plane, this is the sight that greeted us at baggage claim...

A Honolulu airport worker tries to get the baggage conveyors moving...

Yep, the baggage conveyors were jammed and some of the belts weren't working. After 45 minutes of attempts to re-start them, they finally re-routed our plane's luggage to another carousel. I'd say it's time for the Honolulu airport to modernize its facilities, or at least do a better job of maintaining them. While I waited for our bags, K went to pick up our rental car. Things weren't all smiles and laughs at the Hertz counter, either. Apparently, they'd had a power outage and were struggling to get their computers back on line. But K still made it back to baggage claim before I had our stuff... Finally, the baggage machine spit out our suitcases and we were on the move.

We made it! Heading east on H-1 toward Waikiki...

Waikiki Beach near our hotel - Diamond Head peak in background

One of the reasons we decided to take this trip was to visit with friends who lived on Oahu. Bill, one of my best friends from college, has lived in Honolulu for the past three years. We hadn't seen him since we last visited two years ago. After checking in at our hotel, we picked up Bill and his wife and headed to Kane'ohe, on the other side of the island, to have dinner with K's friends Susan and Greg, who just recently relocated to Hawaii from the "mainland".

driving north on the Pali Highway...

view of Kailua from the Pali Overlook

Modeling my most obnoxious Hawaiian shirt at the Pali Overlook...

Susan and Greg's house features what is arguably one of the best views available on the island of Oahu. Their balcony -- or lanai, to use the local terminology -- provides a view of the Ko'olau Mountains to the southwest, and Kane'ohe Bay to the east. Spectacular! They served us a really tasty Easter dinner, which compensated nicely for our earlier troubles at the airport. Susan's mom and grandmother were in town, as well.

the view from Greg & Susan's

Kane'ohe sunset

This was our first time to visit this side of the island, and we really enjoyed it. It's a lot more relaxed than the fast-paced, crowded city conditions found in Honolulu and Waikiki. After dinner, we headed back to our hotel, arriving around 10 pm (due to the time difference, it was now 3 a.m. to our tired bodies) -- a long day.

Stay tuned for more...

WSC

nr: The Perfect Storm - Sebastian Junger

np: Jesus & Mary Chain - Psychocandy