musicitul

We are on the H2 now.... following your itinerary! Thanks for the coordinates!

In no time at all we were in the rental car and Homer had us on the highway (Homer loves highways - he gives a "Woo Hoo!" every time he directs you onto one) and headed to the North Shore. It is a lovely drive, as were all the drives on all the islands. You drive through mountains which give way to rolling open fields of pineapples and other crops we couldn't identify and then you see the Pacific up ahead. We passed the Dole Plantation visitor center. The parking lot was packed but with our limited time we decided not to stop. We were headed to Matsumoto's Shaved Ice in Haleiwa.

 

Highway to the North Shore.

 

Matsumoto's

 

 

 

In my ongoing quest to be a traveler and not just a tourist, and to try an experience places I visit as a local does, I ordered the Hawaiian flavored shaved ice WITH ice cream AND beans. BLECH!!! The shaved ice part was delish, but those beans...yuck. I was expecting some sort of sweet tasting bean, or maybe salty would have been a nice contrast. But to me they were just like regular black beans and I can't imagine who would have ever thought of adding them to ice cream and shaved ice. I had to toss it once I got down to the beans. Everyone else just ordered regular shaved ices and enjoyed them. They are good, better than snow cones, but we all agreed that they weren't ALL that. So if you go to Hawaii and don't manage to get a shaved ice, don't feel like you missed all that much. They are inexpensive tho, I will give them that.

 

This is the view across the street from Matsumoto's looking down towards the ocean:

 

Next - On to Turtle Beach...

Donna-

You have gotten me so excited, yet streamlined my itinerary so much with your review!! A heartfelt thankyou for the time and effort you have put into this. I have even been showing some of your pictures to family and friends when they ask what we have planned to do, since we have the Canon D10 I hope my snorkeling adventures come out as beautifully as yours.

Many Happy Sailings for your future,

Sarah

I am waiting with baited breath!! We leave on Thanksgiving, and are very greatful to have had your review to read... so informative.

Thank-you.

Sarah

I have two more installments to complete - our final day in Waikiki and then a wrap-up with my final thoughts, suggestions, things I forgot earlier, etc. I'm going to try and get Waikiki posted either Thur or Fri night, and my wrap on Sat afternoon. Then I'm going to condense everything and post the condensed version on the reviews board with a link back to this thread. I'm subscribed to the thread of course, so I will continue answering questions as best I can as long as people are asking them.

Aloha!

Donna