Sunday, August 30, 2009

Roadtrip to North Shore

This morning was very leisurely, and Kanoa and I just watched reruns of Psych until about 1 in the afternoon. It was gloooorious, I've missed TV more than I should! Then we headed up to the North Coast, where there are some gorgeous beaches. The drive was spectacular as well – the mountains here are RUGGED. The mountains consist of super jagged valleys and spines that dive almost straight into the ocean. We didn't actually eat at the place in the below photo, but there were tons of similar signs along the road and they had a ton of personality!

We stopped to take a picture at the Mokolii, a small island off the coast. Kanoa explained that in Hawaiian culture, the island was formed when a goddess traveled from the Big Island to Kauai. On the way, she was attacked by a giant, vicious lizard and fought it into submission on Oahu. She broke it into pieces, and the island is the tail of the lizard. At low tide it’s possible to walk straight out to it! Otherwise, it’s probably better to canoe because there are 15 foot tiger sharks swimming in the surround water. Crazy!! The water was SO BLUE and the views were breathtaking as we drove along the coast – I wish my camera could capture even a tiny fraction of that beauty, but photos don’t do it justice. The ocean and the mountains are so different and I can’t decide which I’d rather look at. So beautiful!

The beach we visited at North Shore had pretty large waves, although apparently they get significantly bigger during the winter and are great for surfing. Kanoa and I just chilled in the surf and got swept back and forth towards the shore. I love the ocean here – I can float without any effort and the water is so warm. It’s crazy relaxing! We drove back towards home and ate at a roadside fresh shrimp stand. The salt and pepper prawns were fantastic, and Kanoa was horrified that I ate the shells and tails but I think they’re delicious!


When we got back home, we ate some pizza and watched football. Not my normal TV choice, but the high school teams playing were pretty good. I realized that I’ve seen probably 2 high school football games EVER since I never went to the Mitty games, so this makes number 3. Pizza is also one of the greatest culinary developments in existence! Yummy yummy.

Tomorrow we’re going to go snorkeling pretty early and then go to the women’s volleyball match between UCLA and Hawaii. It should be really exciting since both teams are highly ranked, and I’m glad I’ll get to see at least one volleyball game this season since I’ll be missing everything while in Australia!

Only 1 more day in the US. AHHHHHH!!!!

1 comment:

  1. It all looks gorgeous! Thanks for the island escapism from my dissertation :D Have a safe trip to Australia! -alys

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