ALOHA TAKE 2

We had great weather yesterday. We spent the day by the pool and on the beach.  Around 3:00 we felt like we needed to get off the hotel property and go see a little of the North Shore. Good idea! Bad timing! The traffic was bumper to bumper on the one highway that leads from  Honolulu to the northern area. After we navigated through the traffic we ended up on the most beautiful road. All around us were mountains, pineapple fields, blue skies and we could see the ocean straight in front of us. 

 We stopped at a few of the beaches on the North Shore to watch all of the surfers. The waves were huge and came one after another. 

I don't remember if I mentioned that the water is cold here, so I don't know how those scrawny  surfers tolerate it. They must be numb by the time they get out (or numb from something before they go in! Ha) or have hit their heads too many times. I think those of us from the east are a little spoiled by how  the Caribbean  water temperatures affect on our beaches. 

This morning we headed back north to go to the Dole Plantation. We did not take the tour to see how the pineapples are farmed, but we got lost in the largest maze in the world!! The plantation has a maze that is three acres. We started out with a lot of enthusiasm but ended up looking forward to finding our way out. 

The map of the maze

Princess #2 even went as low as cheating! Here she is peeking over the hedges by getting on top of one of the check in stations.

They had the best ice cream, of course it was pineapple!! I wanted to buy pineapples to take home, but I didn't want to have to lug them through the airport (not sure if it is allowed anyways!!).

We went to Pearl Harbor on the way back.

 It was interesting to see a big piece of our history. The memorial is a structure that is built over the US Arizona. You look down in to the water and see the ship below. The men that died during the attack and went down with the ship are still inside. 

 Oil is still seeping out of the ship and floating to the top of the water. It just seems that it would be an issue with environmentalists.

 There were a lot of Japanese tourist here and a lot of them were  at Pearl Harbor. I felt kind of weird for them. I kept trying to sneak a peak at them during the video portion of the tour, every time narrator said something about the "Japanese". I wondered if they were uncomfortable listening to the story being retold. Anyways, I am glad we went and made the princesses pay attention. I am counting on #3 having to do some kind of US History project in the next 7 years before she graduates. I kept every ticket stub, bought a chart and map and took tons of pictures so she is good to go! 

I've walked so much and have eaten too much I am feeling bloated and am in need of a pedi.

See..........

Okay, I'm getting silly, time for bed!!!

 I am sure that there are mistakes in this post and I want to post more pictures but I keep nodding off. So I will clean this up and add pictures tomorrow hopefully. We leave Hawaii at 6:00PM (get home 11:00 AM Sunday) and I'm not sure I will have time to to sit at the computer until after I get home. I just really wanted #1 to see what we were up to before getting home. Aloha!