Road Trip: North Shore

Every now and then we get an itch for a road trip.  It might sound funny to take a road trip on an island that is 597 square miles but it's possible!  We took BIL on a scenic drive to the North Shore making lots of stops along the way.

Leaving Kailua we headed North on Highway 83 to the Valley of the Temples, which is essentially a large cemetery with several temples, the most remarkable of which is the Byodo-In Temple.  The Byodo-In Temple, built entirely without the use of nails, was established in June 1968 to commemorate the first Japanese immigrants to Hawaii.  It is a scale replica of the Byōdō-in temple in Uji Japan that was constructed over 900 years ago. 

Eagle-eye Lost fans will recognize this temple from a scene with Jin and Sun.

BIL ringing the three ton brass bell	Largest wooden Buddha  carved in over 900 years

First time we've ever seen black swans	Japanese Cemetery

Continuing North we stopped at a macadamia nut farm, which we've driven by many times but never stopped.  Sadly this is a tourist trap, but there are lots of macadamia nut samples to be had!  We made another quick stop at Kualoa Park to take in the views before checking out Kualoa Ranch, down the road. 

Kualoa Ranch has tours and activities ranging from horseback and ATV riding to movie set tours.  We might be back, perhaps another time we have guests.  

The drive continued now for about 45 minutes without stopping, taking in the ocean views heading toward the North Shore.  Occasionally the road is just a few feet from the water; other times it cuts through towns so small they're barely noted on the map.  Houses here, as in most areas, range from shacks to mega-million dollar estates.

Our goal was to make it to lunch at a shrimp truck.  Having tried the "famous" Giovanni's, we were hoping to stumble past Fumi's on this trip.  While we are sure that all of the shrimp trucks prepare plates that meet our wet-nap quota Fumi's harvests their own shrimp.  (Other trucks import their shrimp.)  Surprisingly we don't have pictures of our shrimp plates (we were so hungry we dove right in!), but the butter garlic shrimp and original shrimp plates were ono (delicious) and we were glad Fumi's has sinks and soap for our sticky fingers.

Two more stops were on the day's agenda, but first we had to pull over at a produce stand so BIL could have his first-ever fresh coconut.  The produce man hacked off the top and stuck in a straw.  When the water was all gone he cut the coconut in half and gave us plastic spoons to scoop out the yummy insides.

Using our rudimentary map we hoped we would find Turtle Beach, a small strip of beach where sea turtles chill.  We pulled over when we saw a bunch of cars parked on the side of the road. And holy cow there were several turtles chilling at the water's edge. The turtles are supposedly at this spot year round, leaving only to give birth, which they do at the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.  Once the turtles hatch they have the "lost years" and then return to this beach.  We will definitely be back with our snorkel gear.

Of course the trip required a shave ice stop.  Since we had already tried the famous Matsumoto's we sought out the "local favorite", Aoki's.  Our vote - better than the lines at Matsumoto's but it still doesn't top our current faves: Shimazu's and Rainbow's.  

We took the less scenic ride back through pineapple farms and highways.  A long post, but it was a long, fun-filled day.