Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Oahu

Earlier this month, I was lucky to venture to the island of Oahu with a friend. This was the time to go. I left freezing temperatures back home and enjoyed tropical weather (tried to get a tan, but wish I got darker).

For the first six days we were on Oahu's North Shore. I'd always heard of this area---mainly because of the tons of surfing going on here, and the huge waves this stretch of beach is known for. While we were there, some surfing competitions were going on. Apparently, there is also a rogue surfing competition always waiting to take place. It goes down if the waves are some huge height (I think like 100ft or more!)---it didn't happen while we were there. I still liked the waves. I liked sleeping to them. I liked watching them. I liked playing in them.

Chickens At the Shrimp Truck

The North Shore was cool because it was fairly chill for Oahu---which is the most populated of the Hawaiian islands. There were lots of surfer bums, ex-pat-types, shrimp trucks (as opposed to taco trucks, which I'm accustomed to on the mainland), etc.

Surfers On The North Shore

Turtle Bay Resort was pretty nice. It was in the middle of it all on the North Shore. If you've seen the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall, then you've seen this hotel. The hotel, one of its restaurants, and some beach scenes were filmed in the movie.

Lighthouse On Southeast Corner Of Oahu

Made a loop around the island, and this proved fruitful because we went to a pretty awesome beach: Kailua Beach State Park (next to an equally nice beach called Lanikai). This is a nice beach for swimming in sandy-bottomed clear blue waters, as well as laying out on nice soft sand. This beach has the benefit of not being too crowded because it is off the beaten path and is surrounded by residential neighborhoods (vs. hotels). Once on the beach, you can travel up the beach for 3 miles until you find that nice patch of sand.

Palms At Kailua

I don't know if they're regulars, but I saw the coolest thing--a woman with four dogs (pug, beagle, weiner dog, and lab), and she swam with all of them for a long time. The pug was statuesque on a boogie board while one of the other dogs pulled. Very cool-crew. :)

Also made a visit to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. It was super touristy, but I like pineapples, so it wasn't too bad. They also have a fairly large maze there, and Jen & I racked our brains for an hour or so trying out a "scavenger hunt".


Pineapples

Another major highlight for me was the luau we went to. It was a small one on the grounds of Turtle Bay Resort. It was cool though. There was a troupe from the nearby Polynesian Cultural Institute---they did pretty good, and their "MC" was a "smooth" talker and pretty funny. But what am I writing about here...we all know a luau is all about the food, baby!! yeah, I had a few types of seafood, some teriyaki beef, some pork, and of course some poi (I had two bowls of poi, son!!).

Alas, after about 6 days, we had to leave the North Shore, and into Oahu's beehive known as Honolulu. Don't get me wrong, Honolulu isn't that dire of a city. It's just a big city in a tropical place. So as long as you're near the beach (or a palm tree), Honolulu shines. We were lucky to stay at the old and storied Moana Surfrider hotel, and our backyard for two days was the sleepy Pacific and Waikiki Beach.

Upon entering the Surfrider the game to play is to not get trampled by newlyweds. Yes, it seems like there was a bridal-gowned woman and tuxedo-ed man around every nook and cranny in the Surfrider's lobby. You can't fault them though, the Moana Surfrider is classically picturesque. And, in the lobby the other major feature: a huge "snow"-covered Christmas Tree.

Christmas Tree & Ms. Big Crow

So, here we were on the world-famous Waikiki beach. I was fine with spending most of our last couple days in Hawaii on the beach or in the water. I needed a tan!! I managed to get a little dark and freckled, so I was happy.

All in all, had a nice vacation from the chilly Pacific Northwest.

One More Sunset

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