My Hawaiian Vacay: North Shore of Oahu

After a breakfast of Kona coffee and my mango creme malasadas, First order of business today was a mani/pedi, of which I paid twice what I pay back home....but I never complain too much about the cost of pampering myself. The girls at Crystal Nail Salon treated me like a princess and even painted plumeria flowers on my nails!

On my walk about this morning, I took a different direction to see what I could see...more statues in lush green parks, more expensive shops -all of which I can patronize if I so choose in Orlando - more crazy street people and a different view of the beach. I headed back to the hotel to visit the fitness center and my 8am yoga class with Lauren.

I decided to have sushi for lunch, Paul is not a fan. The California roll and Inari were yummy!

Spent the rest of my day reading - out of the sun - until Paul returned. Looking forward to a drive up to the North Shore. The drive from Waikiki past Pearl City is just stop and go on the H1, traffic here is unbelievable. The H2 takes us north through the interior of the island to Wahiawa, where there are fields of coffee plants and pineapples! Dole Plantation has a huge tourist attraction...we didn't stop to tour, just to snap a pix. The coffee farm was more interesting, I tried a couple of different favors and just generally did a lot in deep inhaling...the smell was wonderful!

Next stop was Hale'iwa, a funky little surfing town with shops and restaurants. We didn't see one hotel...so I'm wondering where everyone stays?! I had read about the food trucks who offered the best fresh seafood, so we drove down the main drag seeking the trucks for dinner. They were scattered everywhere, we pulled into a circle of three trucks offering Hula Hotdogs, shrimp scampi and Hawaii's best fish tacos. I chose the fish tacos, but I have to say...they were not the best. And the smell wafting out from under the shrimp truck was nauseating. Check off the food trucks...moving on around the coast. This area of Oahu is home to the big surfing competitions held in the winter months, the infamous Banzai Pipeline and Sunset Beach.

Rain had moved in around the coast darkening the sky and laying a fine mist on everything. Beach goers started to back up and call it a day. We walked out to the beach to snap a few pix before heading back to Waikiki.

I'm not sure either one of us were overly impressed with the North Shore; crowded and expensive, like the rest of Oahu.

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