disneydream06

I haven't forgotten about this, but I feel like I am in continuous catch up with journals and emails. :o
Sorry to dreamwidth...

Anyway, back to the trip.
February 1st, 2019...

We left Pearl Harbor and our next step was going to be the Dole Plantation, or according to the tour guide, a glorified bathroom break. There are some things to do at the "plantation", but we were only there for about 35 minutes. So we really only had time to wonder around the gift shop. I wanted to get some Dole Whip, but the line was quite long and didn't want to waste my time standing in line. So I wondered around the gift shop, and of course did a little shopping. LOL...
As far as Dole is concerned, the tour guide told us that the canned pineapple you get in the stores no longer comes from Hawaii. It all comes from Central America now. About the only thing they grow pineapples in Hawaii for any more is the juice and for lack of a better term slop that crushed up pineapples would be used in.
From there we headed up to the North shore where all the big waves and surfing are at. And because we were in a smaller bus, he was nice and pulled over at one of the little parking spaces along the road and let us get off to check out some of the surfing that was going on. I got a couple of pictures and we were off again. We drove past some of the many road side shrimp restaurants and shrimp farms. Then we stopped and drove through a BIG Morman compound. We drove past their Temple and a big tourist attraction that they run. Sorry to say, but that would be enough information for me not to go there. :o
Then we drove on to the Kualoa Ranch for our lunch break. It's a large, several thousand acre, ranch were a lot of movies and tv shows are filmed. Some you may be familiar with, the Jurassic Park movies, George of the Jungle, Blue Hawaii, the tv shows Lost, Hawaii 5-0(old and new), and many more.
I had a burger for lunch, and it was really good. Due in part, I am guessing, that they raise their own cattle at the ranch so the meat is really fresh. And of course a gift shop, and more shopping.
After leaving the ranch, we stopped at this cemetery that way in the back was a Buddhist Temple that we got to walk through. As we were getting off the bus, I think I earned some brownie points with the tour guide because I wasn't sure, so I asked if it was okay to take pictures in and of the temple. He said yes it was of course, but that was very polite of me to ask. To go in the temple and see the Buddha, we had to take our shoes off, or as the tour guide said, you could leave them on and just walk around and look through the doors. I took my shoes off and walked into the temple to see the Buddha. Believe it or not, another gift shop, and I did manage to pick up something. :p
On a side note, as we drove into the cemetery to go back to the temple, there was a grave site that was being prepped for a funeral, and then as we drove out, the funeral was going on or just finished. :o In my head I was like, Don't stare at the funeral. :o
From there we drove on to the Nu'uanu Pali Lookout point. It is this amazing, but WINDY, lookout point that looks over Honolulu. It was funny, as we drove up the steep curvy road the tour guide was telling us how it's usually windy up at the look out. Some times it's really windy. Some times it's super windy. Occasionally it's adjective, adjective, adjective, adjective, adjective WINDY. Today's apparently classified as Super Windy. lol...
After hanging out there for awhile, we headed back down into Honolulu.
I jokingly asked the guide how much of a bribe would it take to go over and see Diamond Head, the famous extinct, I hope, volcano. When you see shots of Oahu, Diamond Head is usually one of the views you will see.
Anyway, he kind of laughed it off and went on with the tour which consisted of pointing out several old mansions that were now foreign country consulates. We stopped for a quick view of and old Pagoda that was at a group of 5 cemeteries. We just stopped and saw it from the highway. The one cemetery literally looks like the graves were side by side of each other. Then we drove down through the business district. Went down a street that had all the EXPENSIVE car dealerships. Lexus and across the street from Lexus was the used Lexus dealership. :p Then BMW, Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc... We drove past the Iolani Palace, the only royal palace in the US. We also drove past another famous Hawaiian site the King Kamehameha Statue outside the State Supreme Court. Unfortunately, we didn't get to stop, so a quick photo attempt from the moving bus.
Then we started dropping people off at their hotels. After dropping off the other 4 people, we started to pull away from the last hotel and the tour guide asked me if I still wanted to go see Diamond Head, and I was, Umm, Sure. He drove me over to see Diamond Head. Totally didn't have to. Totally unexpected. Way totally appreciated. :o We drove into to the old volcano caldera. He stopped and let me off the bus long enough to get a couple of pics and then headed back to my hotel. We briefly got lost, but eventually found it. lol...

It was interesting on the front of the gift shop is says Dole Plantation established in 1900, and yet the tshirt I got lists it as 1901. lol...