Oahu, Hawaii...day four

Another early morning pointed us inland. We had wanted to hike, but the small amount of sun we felt on our skin walking from the hotel to the car made me decide that we'd forgo the 5 mile hike on the beach in direct sunlight for a tropical hike shaded by large palm trees and ferns. Monoa Falls was our destination and, just like everything else in Hawaii, it cost $5 to park the car at the trailhead.




And boy were there some big ferns! The hike, an easy 2 miles round trip that ends at a 150 foot waterfall, is just outside of town so it's a big tourist destination. Luckily we were there on a Tuesday so we didn't pass too many people on the trail, although there was a screaming child at the waterfall who got a big stink eye from me. The little fucker. I was so excited to be surrounded by the tropical forest that every little flower and bush was interesting to me.



Marica Iris

Banana flower



Red Ginger




After a million pictures taken of him, the tall one will typically grab my camera and start shooting away in my direction. Luckily I have the editing power. I was soaked with sweat after this little hike. Not from exertion, but from the crazy humidity. After the quick hike we hopped in the car, air conditioning at full blast and pondered what to do next. Driving down the road, the ever present reggae music playing softly in the background, the tall one said "I'm perfectly content doing this for the rest of the day". So that's what we did!




We followed the H1 south until it ended and turned into the 70. Passing Hanauma Bay I remembered that the Halona Blowhole was just off the highway so we pulled to a stop behind the tour buses and wandered out to the lookout point and saw...nothing. The tide was coming in but the surf also needs to be rough to get the hole to blow, so to speak. The picture to the left is how it's supposed to look. Seeing as my photo was lacking a little...spray, I added a flower. Because it's pretty.











We stopped at a roadside fruit stand and had the lady cut open a coconut so we could drink the "milk" inside. It was soo yummy, but it's a young coconut. The tall one told me as the coconut matures it absorbs the milk and the meat turns into what I'm used to, not the crazy slimy stuff that was in the young one that I hated but the tall one scooped up like it was the best thing in the world. Bleh. We stood at the stand for a bit and the lady's little boy came out and was playing around in the dirt. As we walked away the little boy (he must have been about a year and a half old) started yelling something. I turned around just as he started taking off his pants to show me his wee.

Time to hit the road!




These flowing fishes outside of Kualoa Ranch caught my eye so I asked the tall one to pull over so I could grab a couple frames. Lost fans may recognize this area as Hurley's golf course, but the ranch also was used for many different films, and there is still a big paw print from the Godzilla filming (which they filled in for the Lost shoot). You can spend the day here taking tours and riding horses but, big surprise, it's kinda spendy so off we drove.



After rounding the island we stopped to have shaved ice at Matsumoto's Shave Ice in North Shore. It wasn't as yummy as I thought it would be, but it did turn my tongue purple. It started to lightly rain and the smell of the precipitation hitting the warm concrete was a familiar aroma. It always reminds me of summers in Arizona and it made me think of my mom. We stopped at the Dole plantation to grab some pineapples and I got her a gift that I think she'll like.

By the way, did you know pineapples don't grow on trees? They grown on a bush, on the ground!

I know, it blew my mind too.



We went back to the hotel to enjoy our view and to drink with the gnome. The tall one discovered two amazing things on that evening: one, a bottle of Jack and a bottle of Stoli plus mixers only cost $50 at the ABC store in the lobby and two, if you bring all the mixers and alcohol outside along with the ice you don't have to get up to make a drink. He was very excited about these two discoveries and we celebrated with a toast. We chatted and he learned a new thing about me and we watched the sunset colors move across Diamond Head as the full moon rose above the crater. It was a great end to a lovely day.

to be continued...

day one
day two
day three