Pineapples & the Pipeline!

Dole Plantation, Killer Tacos, Turtles at Laniakea Beach, Shaved Ice at Matsumoto, Banzai Pipeline Surfing, Laie...needless to say, today was packed from start to finish. We hit the road headed for the Dole Plantation but not without getting lost a couples times along the way.

We finally got there and it was awesome! It's got the train tour, how to cut pineapple demo's, delicious fruit and ice cream, pineapples from tons of different countries, and the world's largest maze.

This is the trunk of a Painted Eucalyptus Tree. That's really the trunk but it looks like someone painted pinks, oranges, and green's on it. It's pretty cool.

While we were there we took the time to get to the bottom of some common myths about Pineapple that you've probably been wondering about...you're welcome.

(be sure to pause the music at the bottom of the blog before starting these videos)

Then we were off. Oahu is a relatively small island but the roads are also small causing it to take a little while to get places so lots of time is spent in the car. Which is fine cause we love jamming to the same 10 songs they play on the radio here. That's one funny thing, I swear we really hear the same songs everyday over and over and over with a random local hawaiian song every once in awhile. We hear Leona Lewis’ Bleeding love & Alicia Key’s, No One, at least 3 times a day...but don’t take my comments as complaints, those are two of my favorite artists and favorite songs....to me that’s just one more thing to add to the PRO’s of living in Hawaii list I’ve been working on.

Today was especially fun to jam since we'd just purchased our Ukulele's and thumb piano and could rock out with them on our way up to the North Shore. Before hitting up the main attractions we swung by Matsumoto to get their world famous shaved ice. The best thing about that is that they put a nice scoop of icecream at the bottom then put the shaved ice and flavored syrup on top. The worst part is the container is not sturdy enough for a slow sipper like myself.

Continuing on our North Shore Adventure we stopped at Laniakea beach where Brooklyn volunteers protecting the sea turtles that come bask in the sun on the beach. We happened to catch 5 at the time we stopped which is pretty great since usually there are just a couple. We also caught one heading back out into the water which is another rarity; to really see them up and about moving.

Anyone who knows Oahu knows you can’t drive the north shore without stopping at the famous Banzai pipeline to checkout the local crazy surfers riding some of the biggest waves in the world. The waves there don’t even compare to those in Kailua. The water was raging. I was too scared to even go into my knees. Just looking out you could see their power and I wasn’t trying to test the ocean.

As we looked out on the open ocean and those huge waves we had a scary thought. There aren’t any Islands to the North of Oahu so looking out off the North shore you're looking at all there is pretty much until the North pole...or atleast Alaska! Is that not a scary thought.

Watch these crazies...don't they know this is where all the sharks are?? Maybe they need a friendly reminder.

After the pipeline we drove through Laie which might just be my favorite part of the Island. It's so rural and untouched in many places. As I get older and think about the types of places I’d want to live I’ve been quite surprised to find I gravitate towards the more rural/country/farmy areas. Funny since I grew up always in cities or suburbia central type places. I’ve never lived in rural areas but I love all that land, space, sky, and the slow friendly pace that comes with it. That’s what I love about Laie.

Then we drove through BYU Hawaii, the other BYU that rejected my application : ) and headed back down to Kailua via the Kamehameha Highway which drives the entire 23 miles back to Kailua along the beautiful coast! AAAAAHHHHH another day in Paradise!