A lap around the Island

We started out the morning with the plan to drive around the Island. We left the hotel about 9:00am. The drive around the island is approximately 110 miles. A few hours right? Wrong! We rolled back in at 7:00pm. Granted we made a lot of stops along the way.


First stop, the Dole Pineapple Plantation. It was drizzling when we arrived and there weren’t many people around. That was nice because we didn’t have to wait to ride the Pineapple Express. After the 20 minute train ride through the plantation, we walked around the grounds. By the time we left the parking lot was full, including the section that held all of the tourist buses.

Next stop was Waialua. This included a stop at the Old Sugar Plantation Mill. This was the oldest existing sugar mill until it closed in 1996. Today, most of the buildings that are still standing house shops. We also hiked down the beach to old beach house that Scott’s family used to own. No one was home so we took advantage of recreating some of the pictures that we have from 40 years ago. I can’t wait to compare them to the old ones. Scott also took a few minutes to swim in the ocean in front of the house. There was no one else around, which was a rare treat.

We headed on to Haleiwa. A must for all tourists is a stop at Matsumoto’s for a famous shaved ice. The line was long, but it was worth the wait. We stopped at a few beaches along the way. This included some of the beaches that Scott used to boogie board at. At the Halona Blow Hole, we spotted whales off the coast.

All in all, it was a long day, but we saw so much. Thank goodness we take a lot of pictures because I can’t remember everywhere we went today.

Waiting in line to ride the Pineapple Express Train through the Dole Plantation

How can you pass up this type of photo opportunity

They make these amazing pineapple cutters!  You do have to be careful because the warning on the back says that they are sharp.

We have this exact picture, only it was taken about 40 years ago.  It's one of many that we recreated today at the beach house.

Scott has been talking about Matsumoto's since before we left for our trip.  There was no way we were missing this even if it meant standing in another line for a half hour.

A stop to look at "Chinaman's Hat".

One thing about trying to take a picture of a whale, as soon as you put the camera down, the whale will come up.  Wait with the camera ready to go and you won't see anything.  Trust me, there was a whale here a few seconds ago.