11 August 2011: Honolulu, Hawaii and North Short, Hawaii

Early to rise today! We got up around 5.30am and drove out to Diamond Head Crater. This is a very large (over 350 acres) crater that has a hiking trail where you leave from the center of the crater and climb up around 525ft over a trail of 0.8mi. It’s a decent climb and provides a pretty good leg workout. We got there a little before they opened at 6am and joined the busloads of tourists that all climbed up. We got to the top a little before 6.30am, which was a little after sunrise, and got some really amazing views and pictures. Awesome way to start the morning.

We then drove back to our hotel, got the upgraded breakfast again (only one omelet today, but I did get some eggs in addition J) before setting out to do some island exploring. We drove all the way to the end of Interstate H1 and went looking for the new Disney resort on Oahu, the Aulani (yes, both Cin and I are big Disney geeks). This is on the southwestern portion of the island and is in what looks to be a private community region with lots of high-end hotels and a really nice golf course. We found the Aulani but were prompted denied access, as they are not open yet (they open the week after we leave Hawaii…we investigated this before we flew in). We figured it may be possible to get a tour or perhaps a restaurant was open, but all of these routes proved fruitless. We did get a decent look at it and it looks pretty awesome.

From there, we headed up Interstate H2 towards the North Shore. Once the Interstate ended, we ended up on a state highway and drove up to the Dole pineapple plantation, where we stopped. We spent a good two hours here, taking the train tour through working pineapple fields and then the walking garden tour where we saw all sorts of plants and crops that are grown here. This was not a planned stop but proved to be very cool…we both learned quite a bit about pineapples and the history of pineapples in Hawaii.

We then headed north into Haleiwa, the famous North Shore town. We walked around the marketplace, which proved pretty uninteresting, and then found a bar for lunch as we were both starving at this point. This place, the Breakers Restaurant and Bar (their webpage is here and their TripAdvisor page is here) was pretty awesome. The barstaff and the two other guys are the bar all seemed local and were talking about some celebrities that had been in the previous week (two of the Baldwin brothers). We both got salads, caprese salads with avocado, that came with a homemade balsamic dressing on it and some garlic cloves, both of which were amazingly good. The Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale was also quite good. :)

After lunch, we decided to search out the beach where they filmed LOST. Yes, yes, I know. But we really loved that show and wanted to find it. Cin found a location that seemed to be about right, a few miles outside of Haleiwa, and we drove there, parking on a street with a blue “Public Right of Way to Beach” sign for a path running between two big yards with horses in them. We walked down and found a beautiful, empty, beach, but not one that we recognized from the show. It was awesome looking and very clean and crisp. We chilled out for a bit here and three people riding horses walked by; pretty cool.

I did a little Internet research and found a much more likely location (here you go, for those of you that are interested) and we walked back to the car and drove out there. We found this location was off another dead-end residential road, with awesome looking, and very expensive looking, houses on it. We found another Public Right of Way sign and walked down another thin path to another amazing looking beach.  There were some folks here, but not many, and the awesome-looking houses all looked right onto the sand. This. Is. Paradise. And it is also what you may think of when you think of classical Hawaii. We walked for fifteen minutes or so in the direction where LOST filming was to occur and then we saw this huge sea turtle climb out of the water up onto the beach to sun himself. Watching this happen was amazing…simply amazing.

As we walked, we saw many more turtles, both on the sand and in the water. So awesome to see and well worth the trip out to this beach. We think we found where filming occurred…it matched the pictures I found on the Internet and looked somewhat familiar, so that’s pretty cool. Without much there, it is hard to see more than an amazingly beautiful beach. This area is really awesome…it’s in sharp contrast to Waikiki with its hordes of tourists and activities. This is a largely untouched and pristine beach and finding a location like this (or the previous one) is well worth your time if you come to Oahu and want to find a paradise like this.

After we hiked back to our car, we proceeded to drive northeast and around most of Oahu, seeing many small towns and such along the way. We also came across the Kualoa Ranch, where a lot of movies and television shows have been filmed (including Jurassic Park and, yes, parts of LOST). This is also an active ranch with lots of cattle raised here (more about that in a second). All of the tours and activities were done for the day by the time we got here, but we planned to go back. A short drive later and we arrived back at our hotel, very tired.

We did clean up a bit and then head out to the Chart House (their webpage is here and their TripAdvisor page is here) for dinner. This is a chain of restaurants in Hawaii, but this was the original location. This place reminds me of many seafood restaurants back home in Ocean City, Maryland, and has an old-school feel to it. They have an extensive menu of fresh seafood and steaks. Cin got garlic steak, which is steak cooked and the marinated in garlic and spices, which she loved. I ended up getting a 16oz bone-in New York Strip, which was locally raised, grass-fed, beef from the Kualoa Ranch. It is very rare to find grass-fed beef and the health and taste benefits of it are well known. Now, I’ve had a good amount of steak over the years and this steak … was one of the best I have ever had. It was awesome. So, if you are looking for an amazing steak dinner, go to the Chart House and get this. You will not regret it.

After dinner, we hiked back to the hotel and watched some TV before bed. What a long day…full of great adventures!