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Published: April 12th 2008
Another long and eventful day, and another late night blog update (11:00 PM in Hawaii, 2:00 AM in Albany 😱).
We decided on a road trip today to get an overview of Oahu as a whole. The island is only 44 miles long and 30 miles wide, so we thought we couldn't
possibly get very lost. With me navigating and Tina driving what could go wrong, right? In the end, I only got us lost twice, and then only briefly. The wrong turns ended up being accidents of good fortune since we ended up stumbling across parts of the island we wouldn't have seen otherwise!
Here's a link to an
Oahu Map for reference.
We started in Ewa Beach, just west of Honolulu on the map, and the plan was to take H1 east until we reached Kamehameha Highway, which follows the eastern side of the island, curves up around the north shore, and then cuts back inland toward home. Our unintentional detours took us to the southeastern part of the island and into Kailua, but aside from that we kept to the plan. The views from Kamehameha Highway are phenomenal, with rain-forest covered mountains on one side and
wide open ocean on the other.
After we got out of the urban and suburban areas immediately around Honolulu, there really were no big cities to speak of on the east side of the island. Kailua is the last place to eat, shop, etc. before starting the drive but we didn't realize that at the time and didn't stop there. The rest of the towns dotting the coast in eastern Oahu are tiny, industrial or agricultural, and look a bit worn around the edges (sort of like miniature tropical versions of Lebanon or Albany).
Dan recommended that we try a traditional Hawaiian
plate and we saw scores of traveling lunch wagons all the way up Kamehameha, but weren't feeling quite brave enough yet to sample cuisine from grungy roadside trailer. If we can get a plate in a proper restaurant I'll be all for it.
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The highlight of the road trip was Sunset Beach on the north shore. We went there hoping to see some big waves -- waves can reach 30-40 feet at times -- but settled for a fantastic view, sand and sunshine, etc.
Last stop was the Dole plantation, where we saw many
pineapples and learned many interesting facts about said pineapples, such as:
- 90 percent of the world's pineapple is grown in Hawaii
- All of the pineapple crop is planted and harvested by hand. A good worker may plant an entire acre, 10,000 plants, in a day.
- There exists such a thing as a 'pineapple float' -- a cup of pineapple juice served with a dollop of pineapple soft-serve ice cream (very tasty!)
On the last leg back to Ewa Beach we got a bit turned around again, so we stopped by Dan's home in Pearl City. He gave us a tour of the building and gardens at the complex he manages and gave us directions home, and of course reminded us that he'll be serving up grilled steak at our place for dinner on Saturday.
I've covered about everything I can think of at the moment, so I'm going to get to bed. I'll need to be rested for tomorrow because we'll be shopping in the morning at a giant outdoor market in Aloha Stadium (something like 1,000 vendors!).
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Amy
non-member comment
I'm greener than the tree's I keep seeing!
Jealous doesn't begin to describe my thoughts right now. When I get through my jealousy and am able to think all I can say is WOW. I really hope you are having a wonderful time, that you stop and buy a few t shirts to wear, and I'd better see a shot of you in some outlandish shorts! I can't wait to review the rest of your trip, but I'll be waiting in person to catch up with you!