Denise's Hawaii - Day 3 Pineapples

Today was a little slower going, but it all turned out great.
We were late leaving the hotel for breakfast and then had to come back anyway. We wanted to eat at Eggs’N’Things but the lineup was 40+ minutes, so we just dropped our postcards off at the USPS outlet across the street and headed back to the hotel. After breakfast we had to head back to the room to get a few things we forgot but found out our internet was down and had to wait for repair.
By this time we were two hours late to pick up our rental car so I called to confirm that everything was still fine. While confirming our reservation she told me we had been given the wrong address when it was booked. So we walked over to the new address she gave us and picked up the car. But as soon as we pulled out of the lot the tire light flashed on the dash! So we looped back around the block and they filled all the tires to the right pressure.

When we finally hit the road we were 3 hours late from my original plan. So, away we went to Dole Plantation. Unfortunately it took us a little longer to get there than it should have. I had read about a really pretty route to take that was preferable to the H2 and Kamehameha. I was trying to navigate from a bad map and he was trying to follow the GPS (which didn’t have my route in it). Needless to say we got lost twice, but never too far out of our way.
We did make it to the Dole Plantation and it was a lot of fun. Overpriced maybe, but a fun outing. The maze took us about an hour, which I think is pretty good. We had a plan and stuck to it and almost never got lost. We also went on the Pineapple Express train tour. You know, 8000 acres of pineapple fields was way less exciting than I had anticipated. But the narrative during the tour was really informative.
Back in the restaurant we tried the Dole Whip, a soft serve pineapple ice cream We got the vanilla/pineapple swirl topped with chopped pineapple. Definitely worth $4.50 on a hot day (and it’s always a hot day in Hawaii). Even though it’s been raining and dreary for three days, it’s never cool and it’s always humid. But it’s a nice break from -25!
Leaving the plantation we were going to stop at the Royal Birthstones, a sacred site where ancient Hawaiian royals would give birth. Sadly, we never did find the turnoff. They date back to the 12th century and are marked with petroglyphs, so it’s a shame we didn’t get there.

On our way back through Wahiawa we grabbed a late lunch at Maui Mike’s, which serves fire-roasted chicken and little else. It was awesome. It’s apparently a favourite with the army folk too. In our half hour there we saw five grab dinner. Schofield Barracks, Hawaii’s largest army base, is just down the highway.

We got back just in time to change and head out to our evening show. We headed to the Holiday Inn Beachcomber to catch the Magic of Polynesia show. It really was a lot of fun. Hula dancers, a singer, and Hawaii’s number one illusionist made for a pretty good 2 hours.

Afterwards, we decided to pop into the Hard Rock up the street for a couple drinks and a late night snack. Waikiki absolutely comes alive at night. There are torches all down Kalakaua and down a couple side streets like Beachwalk and Lewers. The sidewalks were full of people going to and from shows, bars, restaurants, or just window shopping. All the stores are open late and there are street performers everywhere. There was even one balloon artist who made the coolest, and cutest, little penguin. If I thought it stood any chance of making it home in one piece I would have bought it in a second. The next most interesting person out there was the corner preacher with the megaphone who told us we deserved to die for bringing our sins to Hawaii. To each his own…

We finally got back to the hotel just before midnight and finally got to see some good night sights. The clouds lifted a bit this evening and we saw stars for the first time! Not a lot, but enough to let us know that tomorrow should be a good weather day. Today was also the first time we saw a sunset; the cloud cover and been too thick and low up to now.

Enough stargazing, time to get to bed. Tomorrow we move out of this suite and into a regular oceanfront room so we need to pack up and get out! If all goes smoothly tomorrow we should be swimming in the morning and see the Polynesian cultural centre in the afternoon. Then, hopefully, we can hit the North Shore beaches and check out some surfers. We have a few here at Waikiki Beach and Grey’s Beach (in front of the hotel) but I want to see bigger waves and hard core dudes out there!