Oahu
Trip Start
Aug 16, 2007
1
51
61
Trip End
Apr 07, 2008
Oahu,
Hawaii,
United States
Sunday, March 23, 2008
After a bunch of happy greetings we changed clothes and went to Zippy's for some lunch. It was so great to eat local food again! We ran a few errands, and stopped by the mall to get Aaron's tux measurements for his cousin's wedding in a few weeks, then headed home for a much needed nap before dinner. Wanda had cooked up some very 'ono' (delicious) teriyaki, chow mien and rice! Just what the haole's ordered! :)
Today has been such a whirlwind of activity! We have been mesmerized by all of the cultural changes we have seen in the last 24 hours...it's almost as if we don't realize that we are back in the States again! We still look at traffic the wrong way; we are surprised to see store & restaurant names that we recognize; and to hear the local slang again has our heads spinning! But we are really excited to be here and we can't wait to get to the beach! We are also going to try and do a few 'touristy' things while we are here since we realized it has been 8 years since our last visit 'home'!
It was SO great to sleep in a big, comfy bed and wake up to take a long hot shower! Oh the luxuries we have missed! We smiled to ourselves as we had rice & eggs for breakfast and then headed out the door to the beach! Shannon's parents kindly loaned us their Rodeo so that we did not have to take The Bus to the beach. It was rather amusing to watch Aaron turn on the wipers instead of the blinkers...all day! At least he stayed on the 'right' side of the road!
We headed out to the North Shore and stopped in Haleiwa to get Aaron some board shorts at our favorite surf shop, Surf n Sea. It was funny to see the sales guys think of us as tourists and try to sell us some of their sports packages. Looks likes we need to get some sun & pick up our pidgin again so we aren't as easily confused about being a tourist! After getting some shorts, and ogling over all the surf wear (once a surfer, always a surfer!) we make our way through a mess of traffic and arrive at one of our favorite beaches, Kamasuks, near Kawailoa. We quickly change in the car and head down to the beach. We ended up not staying very long because it was really windy and we kept getting covered in sand, besides the clouds were rolling in with a few light sprinkles which threatened a hefty afternoon shower. But at least we got a few rays and caught a few waves!
We headed down the street to Foodland to pick up some chimichanga's and Hawaiian Sun juice and wait out the rain before driving down to Haleiwa to do some shopping. On our way back to Haleiwa, right at Waimea Bay, we saw a whale jump out of the water! It was so awesome! As we continued down the road we finally figured out what all the traffic had been about all day; right by Haleiwa Beach there was a beached seal that had everyone stopping to take pictures. We wandered around Haleiwa, going into all the surf shops, but not finding much to buy. Michelle did come away with a Roxy shoulder bag and a t-shirt though. After a few hours we met Shannon & her parents at Cholos Mexican Restaurant for dinner.
After dinner we dropped the guys off at home and went to the Navy Exchange to do some more shopping. Michelle scored big with tons of surf wear! On our way out we stopped by the Malasada stand and got their last batch of fresh Malasadas (think round, fluffy sugar donut), YUM!
