Oahu, Hawaii part 2

Happy to hear you all enjoyed the first part of our trip to Oahu. I have so much more to share.. plus we visited a second island.

DAY 4

We swung by Leonard's Bakery again.. dang those malasadas were good. We had a big adventure planned for the day at Kualoa Ranch. 

Sorry, that is not a good picture but you get the idea.

Tahitian Screwpine

Kualoa is a 4,000-acre private nature reserve and working cattle ranch established in 1850, as well as a popular visitor attraction and filming location (for over 200 movies and tv shows) on the windward coast of Oʻahu in Hawaii.                   

We had booked a 2 hour UTV tour and it was so much fun!   

We learnt about the land and the significance of the valley. In ancient Hawaiʻi, these mountains were considered highly sacred and were the residence of kings. Unlike mountains formed by tectonic plates, the Koʻolau Range is the eroded remnant of a massive shield volcano. A prehistoric landslide caused the eastern half of the volcano to collapse into the ocean, leaving behind the jagged cliffs seen today.

Many of the Jurassic Park movies, Kong: Skull Island and episodes of Lost were shot here. 

We had very nice and knowledgeable guides which added to the experience. 

Once we were done we headed to the gift shop to pick up some popsicles before heading out.   

Our next stop was Laniakea Beach aka as Turtle Beach because of the amount of sea turtles that come up on the shores. 

Can you guess how many turtles we saw?

It was still a beautiful beach. Many many signs were put up warning us about staying away from said turtles but they for whatever reasons were a no show. 

We drove on to the town of Haleiwa were we had the incredible Jax's Woodfired Pizza. It was so good we still find ourselves thinking about it. Especially the pineapple one which the kids really wanted since we were in Hawaii and well I'm glad they did because it was the best. 

We walked about for a bit.. it was a cute town with a bunch of stores. And then of course we had to try to the famous Matsumoto Shaved Ice. Sorry, but Island Vintage was better. Here, all the flavors tasted very similar and very sweet.

Our last stop was to check out a nearby beach.. but as with all of our recent beach experiences, there were warning signs and the waves were very windy and choppy. So we decided to go right back to Waikiki Beach. 

We ended the night with dinner at Tommy Bahama. Did you know they had a restaurant? I didn't. It was very good. But it was also very cold on their outdoor rooftop eating area. Cold enough that my sweet sweet husband ran back to our hotel to bring me my hoodie. I didn't not expect it to be so cold and had packed only one light sweater. 

DAY 5

And just like that it was our last day. We had our first sit down breakfast. It was a morning without alarms and rushing.

and then we made our way to Pearl Harbor. There are many vendors trying to sell these expensive packages. Don't buy them. Visiting Pearl Harbor is free. You need to pay for parking and that's it. If you want to visit any of the museums they have a seperate price. And if you want to visit the USS Arizona Memorial then it cost $1 but you must make a reservation in advance or stand in the stand by list. The day we were there almost everyone on the stand by list was able to board. But that may not always happen. But if you just want to roam the grounds then it costs nothing.. except parking.

First we visited the Aviation Museum. It was very easy to navigate the area. A shuttle ran through the base and I had no idea that people lived there. There was a school and playground etc. 

Lastly we boarded the boat to visit the USS Arizona Memorial. The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors and Marines killed on USS Arizona during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, It was a somber but lovely way to end our visit to Oahu. 

Stayed tuned for island number two. Any guesses as to where we went next?

                    Etsy           Instagram           Twitter           Redbubble           Zazzle