Full House At Last (Part 2)
le’ale’a = have a good time
TGIF! North Shore
With the lovely, lively Higgins crew in town, I had to take a full day off and make it a three-days-of-play weekend. We headed to the North Shore on Friday, stopping briefly at the Dole Plantation for some Dole Whip (pineapple soft serve) before heading to Waimea Bay.
Waimea Bay
River, Jimmy and I jumped off the rock but we forgot to give our stand-by camera man (Troy) the signal, so we only caught half of my jump and all of Jimmy’s:
Waimea Valley
After a couple of relaxing hours at the Bay, we headed across the street to the beautiful botanic gardens at Waimea Valley. We made the “hike” to the waterfall at the end for a refreshing dip.
We ended the day at some nearby food trucks, for garlic shrimp plates and pulled pork tacos. A poster along the roadway honors Tamayo Perry, a local surf legend who was recently killed by a tiger shark 🙁
Separate Saturday Adventures
The Szczur-Higgins-Gonzalez family went off for more wonderful explorations on Saturday, including a waterfall hike and relaxing at one of the Aulani lagoons (Disney resort).
Meanwhile, Troy and I hit garage sale-ing hard, going to about 20 different sales in a nearby Niu Valley community. Our biggest and best purchase was a Scupper Pro kayak, which Troy and River immediately took out for maiden runs.
Sunday at Waikiki
River and Tom headed to Waikiki to surf, but the breaks are too far out for any photos. Monika, Jimmy, Marielle and I went for a more low-key approach, lounging and swimming at the lagoon and beach at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
We stopped at the spectacular (and extremely windy) Nuuanu Pali Lookout on the way back home, which overlooks the Koʻolau cliffs and lush Windward Coast. It’s said that King Kamehameha threw the soldiers from the opposing army over this cliff after defeating them.
After cleaning up and resting, we headed back to Waikiki for a celebratory group dinner at Monkeypod!
Final Dinner at Roy’s
We were VERY sad to see our friends’ trip ending, but we went out in style with an incredible meal at Roy’s in Hawaii Kai, just around the corner. The Butter Fish is a MUST if you are ever on the islands. Best fish dish any of us have had in our lives! Have I overhyped it enough?
