Our 2nd & 3rd Days!

Our 2nd day in Hawaii we spent very leisurely and go with the flow. We slept in and had a late breakfast. We also spent some more time walking around just taking it all in. We discovered our first ABC store. It is basically like a little grocery/market store. We got a few groceries and items we needed. When we visited the Waikiki area their were ABC stores on every corner. This was Super Bowl Sunday so everyone around the hotel was all gaga over watching the game and drinking. Rhett & I could have cared less about watching it so we swam some more in the ocean. Rhett decided we should practice snorkeling. Everyday we were able to use the snorkeling gear for free for 1 hour. I wasn't really into it but he enjoyed it very much. We took several pictures with the underwater camera. Their were a ton of crabs hanging out on rocks. Rhett's cousins Marc & Annie Parrone live in Hawaii so we gave them a call to see if we could hook up for a visit. Marc came in his jeep and picked us up from the hotel. We went back to their place for the evening and had a wonderful visit. Marc grilled supper for us and made some hot (HOT) wings.They gave us all kinds of tips and ideas of places to check out. It was very spur of the moment giving them a call so it was a happy day that we got the chance to hang out. They offered us their jeep for the next several days. That was amazing because a taxi ride one way was approx $80. Renting a car for the week was almost $600. This also meant that we would have to navigate ourselves in the dark back to the hotel. Rhett did a great job and we didn't even got lost. Their are only 3 highways in Hawaii...H1, H2, H3. People that live there also gave us encouragement by saying even if you do get lost your just going to be going in circles. haha!!

Since we had some transportation we decided to devote an entire day to driving around the island. One of the Pioneer activities offered was an island tour but it would be on a bus with many other people. Taking the jeep on our own was great because we just stopped whenever we wanted. The Rohlfings came with us and between Rhett & Allyn's gps on their phones we navigated our way around Hawaii. Our first stop was Pearl Harbor and we arrived there around 8 am. Their were a lot of people and the wait was going to be around 3 hours. We didn't want to kill our entire day in 1 place so we chose to move on. Along the coast we made many stops for pretty pictures of the ocean.

Near Diamond Head Crater

Halona BlowHole

 We spoke with some local people at Sandy Beach who told us it is a dangerous area to surf. Many broken neck & back injuries have occurred in this area. From a distance we saw Makapu'u lighthouse and China Man's Hat. (a pointy island) The next big stop was at North Shore. We drove by Kualoa Ranch & the Polynesian Culture Center but did not have time to stop. Those will both be on the list for next Hawaii trip. (Which I will hold my breath for bc it will probably be a long time!) For lunch we were on the lookout for Giovanni's Shrimp Truck. It is basically just a van on the side of the road that sells shrimp. We were told it was a must to try! Knowing there were 2 locations we opted to look for the one at North Shore. It took a little while to find but eventually we made it. At this point in the jeep trip I was just a tad crabby & hungry!! It was so nice to get out and stretch the legs and eat. Now I know it doesn't look like much but it was yum yum!! The van is covered with signatures & names everywhere. We of course had to sign! The chick that was working handed us the black sharpie. Rhett & I had the shrimp scampi with white rice. Definitely a meal to remember!

 After eating we walked around the North Shore shopping area. I purchased a couple souvenirs including coconut purses and homemade soaps. All the soaps smelled lovely and it was hard to choose. I also got a few postcards to send back home to our families. 

That's all for now folks. Next time I will fill ya in on the Dole Plantation.