The North Shore & Waimea Falls

During her planning phase, Ellen found a company that would drive us around the island to see the sights. Renting a car in Hawaii costs almost as much as it does to fly there, so Ellen did some research and found Scott. He is Vietnamese and his real name isn't Scott but he picked the name to prevent people like Chris Union from embarrassing themselves. Scott runs a transportation/tour company of sorts and parked his shiny black SUV outside of our hotel early on Wednesday morning. Scott has a route that he normally takes for folks wanting to visit the North Shore but the Union clan had different ideas. 

So we set out. We asked Scott heaps of questions and each of his answers was more fascinating than the last. We learned that only 52% of people living in hawaii own their homes because a bunch of yankee mainlanders have moved in and pushed the median home price to $950,000. Just to clarify, that's not even a super nice house. That's your run of the mill, 19050's ranch home price. Scott would giggle at our outrage. Scott talked about pineapples, surfers, traffic, shipping, and his childhood in Vietnam. Most notably he told us how they didn't have any money so he and his friends use to play soccer with a grapefruit. "You'd get a few good games out of it," he said. They also tried to play using watermelons but it didn't go well. 

Our first stop was a little beach town where we got coffee and snoballs. Lee got the whole family obsessed with fishing shirts, or shirts made of a waterproof, sunproof material - like a rashguard but thinner and lighter. We scampered across the street to peek into some surf shops. Scott requested a cappuccino and once again, Brett innocently brought two thin bags of coffee beans to a checkout counter and was hit with a $75 bill. He still hasn't learned to check prices first. 

We went on by the Dole Pineapple Plantation where you could see the pineapples growing in the enormous volcanic-soil fields. We made a brief stop at a beach where Scott promised we would see tons of turtles, didn't see a one, and then he dropped us off at Waimea Valley, a botanical garden featuring the Waimea waterfall. The family was surprisingly accepting of a visit to the botanical gardens. Mom and I would surely love it but we can't expect anyone else to want to wander aimlessly through tropical foliage. Au contraire. Everyone was up for it. What with that perfect weather and those exciting plants we don't have at home, a day in the jungle was lovely. I did my best to curb my desire to take picture of every plant. Ellen kept us on a tight schedule-leash, "We're meeting Scott at the car in thirty minutes!" so we hustled to the end of the gardens to see the waterfall. It was surprisingly small and full of swimming tourists. We snapped some quick pictures and then hustled back to the car. 

Next was lunch. Scott dropped us off at a little food truck cluster across from the beach which looked and felt especially Hawaiian. It probably took 45 minutes to get our food and I got a sunburn waiting for it but I think it made it all taste even better. Also, there were roaming chickens enjoying the food truck rodeo so they get added points for cuteness. 

Our last stop of the day was to see Pipeline. It's not prime Pipeline season so the waves weren't a spectacle in themselves but the scene as a whole was very exciting. I imagined the beach filled with thousands of onlookers while surfers from around the world cruise 15 foot waves. Mom got especially excited about it and wants to come back during the appropriate season so she can watch the waves. 

Scott then drove a sleepy Union clan back to Waikiki for naps and snacks. This was the only occasion on the whole trip where Ellen briefly turned on us. It had been a long day and she was done with it. By supper she was back to being cheerful and participating in the conversation.