chase the light

Today we had a few things on the schedule which included a drive across the island to go to a pre-wedding bar-b-que in Kailua. That was from 1-6pm so we had a bit of time in the morning and afternoon to see a few things. After an hour long photoshoot on the beach in full hawaiian regalia, we had breakfast at the restaurant on the sand and enjoyed the views.

We’re on our way to the Dole Plantation tis morning to take the tour and see pinappley things, eat pineappley things and be pineappley things. On our way down I spotted a carver on the side of the road so we turned around and stopped by to see what he had. He was a nice fellow named Gus and chatted for a few minutes. Just then another couple pulls over hops out and snakes the nice big carving he had out on the table. Um, thanks people., we were eyeing that one. humpf. Well, he was really nice and had a piece of wood there that was ready for carving. So we gave him a little cash and he’s going to carve a custom tiki just for us that has both of us on it and he’ll have it ready tomorrow! How cool!

Off we went very excited about that, and 20 minutes later we arrived at the Dole Plantation. Kinda hot in the center of the island. We bought tickets for the train and the gardens. We hopped on the train for the ride around the plantation and it was pretty interesting but I really could have used some pineapple to eat. After we got back we went into the shop and bought a couple of Dole Whips which are just basically pineapple ice creams. Very good, very melty in the sun, very quickly eaten. Chris wishes he had one right now he writes this. Pineapples are good. And prickley.

Right then, back in the car… So this is where not having the gps turned into a mess. Sometime during the trip I took a wrong turn by following some cars and ended up in the Schofield Barracks Army base. Ooops. The gate guard looked a bit annoyed when I told him I was trying to get to Kailua which is on the complete opposite side of the island. He let us turn around though and off we went back on the main highway. We had to go back through Honolulu to get to Kailua and a nice rainbow came out and then we headed through the mountains. Once we came down through the mountains I had no idea how to get us there without a map. All I could do was try and recall the route and get us in the area. We were already way late and no sign of actually getting there. So I called Steve a few times and we eventually got there but errrr, I tell ya.

Saw some old friends and one guy was from England so Steve of course introduced him to Liza, because that’s what you do with two english people. Turns out… grew up near each other. Ha! See! Anyway, we hung out a bit and sat by the pool for awhile before we headed back up to Turtle Bay. Before we left town though we stopped to get something to drink… at a Drive-thru! A rare thing for an English tourist. Ha!

Pineapple dreams tonight.