Time off - Part 2

We had two more days off this week to explore the island, and we went all over the place.  :)  We started the first day at 6 am by driving to the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet to shop a little.  There were a lot of interesting things to look at there, but we just stayed about an hour and then headed over to Waikiki for a bit.  From there we took off to hike Diamond Head.

The trail to the top of the crater is only about a mile long, but it's a steep climb, and there are over 200 even steeper stairs at the end.  Whew!  The views from the top are beautiful, and well worth the trip up. It started raining, and the only shelter on top is an old bunker, so all the hikers crowded together and tried to stay dry.  Fortunately, it was just a short shower.

                                  

After the hike, we headed up to the windward side of the island, and it was EXTRA windy.

I held both of our hats on while Art held the camera for a quick selfie.  :)

We stopped all along the coastal highway, taking in the views and checking out the beaches.  We loved Makapu'u Point, The Halona Blowhole, and the view of Rabbit Island.

We drove as far as Kailua, which turned out to be a really nice city that had a street party going on downtown.  We walked around, listened to music, and enjoyed smelling the yummy food.

Our long day ended with dinner and a movie in Kopolei.  Fun day!

On our second day off, we started out at Tropical Farms near Kaneohe on the windward coast.  We sampled nuts and coffee, and then took a really enjoyable tour.  It included a narrated bus ride through the gorgeous farm, a boat ride, and music and dancing. Many movies and TV shows have been filmed there, and it was fun seeing the locations.

The Koolau mountains in the background were used in Jurassic Park, Survivor, Lost and a lot of other films and shows.  We also saw the Gilligan's Island island. :)

They grow just about every tropical fruit and nut you can think of on the farm, but the macadamia nut is king there.  We cracked and ate lots of them.

From there, we drove up the rest of the windward side that we missed the day before, and then on to the north shore again because we just like it so much!

Chinaman's Hat

Pupukea Beach

Shark's Cove

Our favorite North Shore town

Things we ate... (Don't judge).

Fried bananas...Mmmmm.

Shrimp Scampi from this truck - (Ugly truck, yummy shrimp)

The real deal... Hawaiian Shave Ice with ice cream on the bottom.  Call me a 5 year old, but I love this stuff.  You can also get it with red beans on the bottom and condensed milk poured over the top.  Um...maybe next time.

Noooo, we didn't.  And never will.

So now we're working hard back at the conference center.  Today, Art helped install some much needed replacements in the K Cottages.  He assured me he didn't sit down on the job...

Farewell guys!  :)