Day 12 - Wednesday, June 29 - Part 1: The North Shore
Wow… this TR is moving along at full steam now... We've made it to our last full day based at the Ko Olina Villas Resort.
The plan for today was to go up and explore the north shore. We hoped to see Turtle Beach, stop at one of the shrimp trucks, try Matsumoto's Shave Ice, and just enjoy driving along the north shore. And we planned to stop by the Dole Plantation on the way back.
We decided to stop at Turtle Beach first. (Technically, it's called Laniakea Beach, but everyone seems to call it Turtle Beach.) We parked along the side of the road, crossed the street, and low and behold, there were indeed a bunch of big turtles on the beach!!!!
How cool!!!!
There were some people out snorkeling and stuff, but most people admired them from the beach….
They had a lady on duty who shared all sorts of information about the turtles. She even knew them all by name. And she was very diligent to remind people to keep their distance. We probably spent about 20 minutes or so watching, and then decided to move on.
We slowly drove up the North Shore… it was way more flat and steady than I expected. Funny, everyone always talks about driving up the North Shore, but I think this was easily the least interesting drive of the entire trip. Probably amazing by any other standards, but after seeing so many other breathtaking shores across Maui and Oahu, this felt sort of ho hum. I guess if we had visited during big wave season, then watching the surfers would have made it more interesting.
Eventually, we made our way to Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.
I love seafood, and to be honest, I was looking forward to trying this the whole trip. Garlicky shrimp scampi? Yes, PLEASE!!!!
Stephanie, Princess, and I each had the shrimp scampi. Unfortunately, it was a bit of a let down. Certainly enjoyable (I mean, I'd love to be eating some right now), but it didn't live up to the hype. I'd probably try one of their competitors next time.
Pickle went for the lemon shrimp, but it wasn't as good as the scampi...
Those things were super messy! Good thing they had an outside station to wash your hands!!!
What about Buddy? He doesn't like shrimp. They had some other food trucks and flea market stuff in the same area, so he decided to explore a bit. We found a dude who literally looked like Maui from the Moana movie. Seriously… he was big like that, same hair, and similar tattoos all over his body. Anyway, he had a little grill area and he was selling burgers, chicken and stuff. Buddy decided to get a burger from him. We chatted the whole time. Super nice and interesting guy! He was actually a fire twirler (or whatever you call them) by night, and did this to make a little extra money on the side. He had some great stories. Too bad that Buddy found the burger to be disgusting. The guy was so friendly, that Buddy didn't have the heart to toss it in the trash. So he ate it as if he was company at someone's house. LOL. Poor guy. (At least he didn't get sick like at that fish place on Maui.)
We decided to head back south from here… Still wanting to try Matsumoto's Shave Ice.
We stopped a few times to get out and walk along the beach, but we never got in the water…
Eventually, we made our way back to through Haleiwa for Matsumoto Shave Ice.
I think this might be the most famous shave ice place on the islands, so we were stoked to try it! It was in a little shopping village….
Next door to a T&C Surf Designs shop. Remember those t-shirts from the 80's? (I do. And the Nintendo game too!)
Anyway… There was a bit of a line, but it really wasn't too bad. It probably only took about 10 minutes to get through.
(I ended up getting a t-shirt with that Mastumoto's design on it. It sort of has a fun 70's/80's vibe to it. I love wearing it!)
So yeah, this place was a bit more upscale than Ululani's in Kihei. I wonder how it'll compare?
This one was mine. Ramune, peach, and passion fruit.
Buddy had sour apple, lemonade, and lemon.
Pickle had cotton candy and watermelon.
Princess had ramune with azuki beans, ice cream, and mochi!
Wow, that's a tower!
And Stephanie, had lime, guava, and cotton candy… with ice cream on the bottom.
How was it? Well compared to any snow cone you've ever had on the mainland, it was awesome. But we liked Ululani's a bit better. The ice itself had a more light and airy texture at Ululani's. The syrups were probably equally awesome though.
We browsed around in their gift shop for a while. I picked up that shirt, and we got a couple other knickknacks too. Fun!
If you want to watch, here's a quick clip of everyone describing what they got...
And how exciting that you are preparing for your first trip this summer. Hopefully, I'll have some good tips for you.
