Waikiki Beach is the more cosmopolitan side of Oahu where most tourists stay. But if you are looking for something less action packed (in terms of crowd) and more laid back beaches but with monster waves, then North Shore is definitely the place to go.
The Part 1 of my North Shore post comprised of activities on the Kamehameha Hwy along the Windward coast. On another occasion, we explored the central side of North Shore, taking the H2 freeway that eventually turned into Kamehameha Hwy towards the town of Hale’iwa.
Dole Plantation
Dole Plantation is a “tourist trap” according to many reviews I read from guidebooks and blogs. I agree it’s touristy but my whole family had a great time there. Actually my main motivation was to get another taste of that famous Dole whip. I’ve had a taste of this heavenly pineapple flavored soft serve ice cream in Disneyland once and fell in love with it. Unfortunately you won’t find this anywhere in the mainland (other than the Disney parks). Unless of course you fly to Hawaii.
Jude had been looking forward to the Pineapple Garden Maze, the largest maze in the world. He read the Maze Runner and he imagined he was a character in the book.
There are eight secret stations, each one named after each island in Hawaii. Once he spots a station, he has to trace the stencil on the ticket he was given.
Keith and I gave up and left Jude with Joshua in the maze. With their goal of searching for all eight stations, we suspected it wasn’t going to be an easy task and it will surely be time consuming. Meanwhile, we went to browse at all the interesting Hawaiian products at the gift shop.
The Pineapple Express is a twenty minute narrated train ride, touring the plantation. We saw many varieties of crops and I was excited to spot mango trees (it reminded me of our home growing up in northern Philippines where we had seven mango trees in the backyard!). I don’t remember ever seeing mango trees in the States until now.
If you notice the color of the soil is red. This is a mixture of volcanic ash and iron and apparently pineapples love them, growing to be big and sweet.
After touring the Dole Plantation, we drove farther north, noticing the town of Hale’iwa as nostalgically attractive, a reminiscent of the old Hawaii. In fact many residents in the North Shore were against a bill that proposed more future expansions, hence further urbanization of the area. “Keep the country country” were some signs we saw. I strongly agree with its residents.
Our next stop was sampling one of the shrimp trucks. North Shore is well known for its shrimp trucks. Giovanni’s is probably the most popular of the lot but I read some reviews where others preferred Macky’s. I would’ve tried both but Macky’s was more convenient and it was along the route we were on.
I had the Butter Garlic shrimp, combined with white rice and salad. The rice was topped with fried garlic and the shrimp tasted fresh–buttery and garlicky– and oh so delicious. I wish my husband and the boys liked shrimp. I would’ve enjoyed this experience a lot more if they joined me in devouring it.
The next stop was more eventful as everyone liked shaved ice. Matsumoto’s Shaved Ice was definitely the place to go. No one seemed to mind the long line. I ordered the Tropical flavors– a combination of papaya, guava, and lilikoi. It was really good but Joshua and I thought that the colors turned out bland and uninteresting in photographs.
It took more than an hour to get back to our hotel in Waikiki. The traffic can be a pain, depending on the day and time. But experiencing North Shore was worth all the inconveniences, making it as one of our most memorable moments in Hawaii. Skipping North Shore is a mistake, missing out on a big part of your Oahu experience. It’s simply a must place to visit!
Looks like an amazing day! The ice-cream and shrimps, looks delicious! Love the garden as well! 🙂
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Sometimes, even if it’s considered as “tourist trap”, it can bring a lot of fun ! The ice cream is very tempting !
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That’s right! Tourist trap doesn’t necessarily translate as a bad thing 😄
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I think this is actually a dream day out for me. Dole Whip, followed by amazing shrimp, followed by shaved ice. I’ve never had Dole Whip or shaved ice but it looks amazing!
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Yes it was amazing! I didn’t think a bowl of shaved ice with just syrup toppings can taste awesome. The dole whip was heaven! I’m sure you would’ve really liked it!
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The Pineapple Garden Maze must be heaven for kids who love adventure! What a wonderful trip you had Boots..I wonder the taste of the pineapple flavored ice cream, it sounds very delicious 🙂
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The pineapple ice cream is really delicious. My older son, after having one, wanted to have another one haha! Thanks for dropping by Indah!
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Maybe you look for the recipe to make it homemade version 🙂 That will be a real treat! Have a fantastic day Boots!
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Yes they really enjoyed this trip. Pero di mawawala ang pagta -tantrum during vacations haha. Hey I’m really looking forward to your upcoming trip to Bali! I am excited for you and to read your blog- really!
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Looks fun! Did the buys get to finish the maze? 🙂
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They said they found all but one and it was really tricky to locate it. When they met up with us with the younger one was sulking and the older one was very exhausted, no longer wanting to finish it. So my husband had to go with the little one to finish the maze haha!
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Haha! Can’t have a vacation without a bit of grumpiness and tiredness. Reality talaga. 😀 But I’m sure they loved it, overall.
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Looks fabulous–great photos! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
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Thank you so much! Thanks for dropping by 😄
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If Paul and I get back to Hawaii next year, we definitely need to hit up more than one island – all of this looks awesome!
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Hi Sarah! Thanks for the follow! Yes we usually do two islands whenever we go to Hawaii but this time we just decided to stay in Oahu since we didn’t have enough time. There’s so much to do there. I’m looking forward to reading your Hawaii blog once you go back 😄
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We just got back less than a month ago, so I’m guessing it will be a while before we have more Hawaii blogging. If you do a search for Hawaii on the blog, though, you can see what we did this year (“Choppy” even got to go).
I think we’re going to try Honolulu next year (in addition to Kauai – my parents go there and we visit them). But there are a lot of places I want to see!
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I will check out your blog now. I was out earlier running errands and so I haven’t had the chance to see everything! I’m sure I’ll enjoy reading it!
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And if you don’t? I will blame it on Choppy.
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The pineapple dip looks glorious and the shave ice makes me want to hop on a plane and head right there! Your son looks very happy!
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I fell in love with shave ice while I was there. That’s because they have tropical flavors such as lilikoi (passion fruit), lychees, etc. I wish we have shave ice here in Dallas especially it gets soo hot here in the summer! Thanks for dropping by!
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Pineapple soft serve? Sounds fascinating. Pineapple is easily my favorite fruit, but not one I get often.
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Yes pineapple! It’s so yummy!! I love pineapple maybe because it’s a tropical fruit. Philippines has the best mangoes and it’s definitely my #1 most favorite fruit!
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I was never a huge mango fan. I thought they were good, but not great. However when I was in the philippines I have to say, they were pretty amazing. I can’t get that type at home though.
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