Exploring the north and west side of the island

Our first full day on Oahu!

First, we did our only run of the trip. A quick 3 miler along the beach. It was a nice way to start the morning.

Next up was a stop at Liliha Bakery for their famous cocoa puffs. I'm not sure they are all that delicious, but the poi doughnuts were definitely interesting. We were in a hurry, so we got everything to go. But it was cute in there so you could sit and eat your pastries there.

Then, we were on our way to Kualoa Ranch for the Jungle Jeep Expedition tour. They film all kinds of movies here most notably the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World movies. I was expecting to see lots of good movie stuff. We saw some good stuff, but not a lot. I guess it was a pretty drive through the ranch and some great scenery, but I wouldn't recommend it.

Our next move was to drive along the shore and see lots of great beaches and have garlic shrimp. So, we headed out on our journey. First stop was Kahana Bay Beach Park. Nothing too exciting here, so we continued on. The drive itself was just so beautiful, we were happy to keep driving.

Then, we came upon Giovanni's Shrimp Truck. We got a plate of garlic shrimp and it was delicious!

Next up was a bit more of a drive and then a stop at Turtle Bay Resort and Kuilima Cove. We did a bit of snorkeling here and that was nice. Lots of sea urchins and plenty of fish...but the water was not as clear as our snorkeling trip the other day. We spent a bit of time enjoying the sun and then headed on our way.


Then, after struggling to find parking, we stopped at Banzai Pipeline to watch the big waves and surfers. Good stuff!

Then we stopped at Laniakea Beach. There are supposed to be sea turtles hanging out on the beach. We saw no signs of such turtles. Maybe we were too late in the day? Whatever. Onward.

Next up was a stop in Haleiwa for shave ice at Matsumoto. We both got our own this time. :) I had watermelon, raspberry, and peach. And Mike had sour apple, watermelon, and coconut...with ice cream. Good, but not our favorite.

More driving and then our next stop: The Dole Pineapple Plantation. Main goal: do the awesome maze. Mike killed it and finished the maze in like 20 minutes. Alison got lost once and took more like 30 minutes. Good times overall though. We also got some pineapple whip ice cream (yum!) and strolled about the gardens a bit. A fun stop.

Then, we stopped at Beerlab on the way back into the city. We had dinner at a sports bar with really good food (Home Bar and Grill). I think I ordered way too much food, but this meant Mike had leftovers later...so that was good. We had a poke flatbread, macadamia nut shrimp, and pepperoni truffle fries. Delicious!

Then, we tried to go to this beer release party at Maui Brewing where the guitarist from Metallica and the head brewer from Stone Brewing were going to be. It was crazytown in there, so we walked around, saw the guitarist, the crazy lines and left. We ended up at Tikis bar in the hotel next to our Airbnb and I was able to see a replay of the Kentucky/A&M game...so that was fun.