Another Day In Paradise …

 

Which is exactly how my brother in Florida answers the telephone … but then spending his first 65 years in Michigan, I can’t say as I blame him!  But those are actually Debby’s words to describe our days here!  

 

A fairly leisurely morning, going down for coffee (for D & R) and chocolate milk for me, and then having pastries and pineapple in our dining room here.  We went out around 9:30 and headed toward the Dole Pineapple Plantation, arrive there in about 45 minutes.  (Actually Emmy made quite a blunder on our way there … she had us on the wrong side of the highway, and I wasn’t able to get over to get onto the off-ramp she wanted.  As a result, we ended up going right into Pearl Harbor – and not the visitor part either, but rather the actual military base.  Fortunately, the nice – armed -- sentry guard believed our story that we were actually lost and helped us make a U-turn to get us going back in the right direction … thanks a lot, Emmy!  Almost got us into the guard house!) 

 

I think we must have gotten one of the last parking spots going today at Dole; lots and lots of people out and about, but it is so much nicer today than yesterday!  Lots of sunshine and blue sky, which wasn’t apparent at all yesterday!  

 

The first thing that we wanted to do was to ride the “express” train for their tour through the pineapple plantation.  There was only a short wait, but the 22-minute ride through their plantation was very interesting.  We learned about the history of Dole on the islands, as well as how they planted and harvested pineapples today.  After that, we went into their store and sampled their “Dole Whip” – a pineapple/ice cream treat that was really delicious.  We also saw the lovely garden area, although we really weren’t tempted by the pineapple maze – which, we were assured, was “a-mazing…”.   Suffice to say that there were pineapple treats everywhere, along with Dole’s own chocolate that they are growing and producing on the island now.  Debby has been looking for a T-shirt to replace an old one of hers (I think from Maui) that has worn out, but she wasn’t able to find one that she really liked … so the search continues.

At the entrance to the Dole Plantation

Our "express" train!

I think this is R's first ever "selfie!"

Beautiful garden!

Does this make it a "roots" trip?? or a roots route?

Field of growing pineapples!

A plantation with its own reservoir!

Yes, we are definitely goofy!

Enjoying our pineapple whip!

At this point, Robert and I ran into a “pick a pearl” spot, and that’s when trouble really started!  We did this on Okinawa several years ago, and I have to admit that I got several really lovely pearl necklaces out of it!  The way it works is, you pick an oyster to purchase, then you or someone at the shop opens it, and you get to keep whatever is inside.  And with pearls – which I have always loved (Margaret, by the way, means “pearl” just in case you were wondering…) I do find the entire process rather difficult to resist.  So … I picked my oyster, and the gal at the shop opened it – and Wow!  TWO beautiful pearls were inside – the gal called them “bowling balls” as they were both of a very nice, large size and a very pretty pink color.  Of course, then the problem comes with, what does one do with them now?!  And of course, the shop also just happens to have settings of all kinds and metals “just in case” as it were, you wanted to do something with your find!  In our case, we had the pearls set into a beautiful 14 K gold pendant Hawaiian setting.  It’s really lovely.  I can’t wear it yet, though, as the glue needs to dry for 24 hours.  Additionally, I have several gold chains at home, but none here, so I can’t wear it now … and I am NOT going to buy another gold chain, that’s for sure!  But I do love it, and R is an absolute sweetie for getting it for me!!  As a bonus, though (did they see us coming??) they had Robert select an oyster of his own … and upon opening it, his also had two pearls, this time in lavender!  They’re beautiful pearls, but not as big as mine … and not sure what we’ll be doing with them other than taking them home … for now …

My newest pearls!

Robert's lavender pearls!  Beautiful!

Lovely and peaceful restaurant!

At this point, after concluding all transactions, we got back on the road and headed back toward Waikiki.  Hilo Hattie’s, here we come!!

 

Wended our way to the Ala Moana shopping mall, and the Hilo Hattie’s location.  The HH’s we’ve been to previously have been free-standing and very large buildings on other islands.  We’ve not been to the one here before.  It was actually quite small, but absolutely crammed with all sorts of things.  And, the good news was that Debby was able to find a T-shirt she really liked, and both R and I found T-shirts too!  So now we’re all set at least for the next day or two!

 

From the mall, we then returned to our apartment and parked the car.  Got everything back to the apartment, and then decided to head out for a late lunch, as we were all hungry by this time.  Walked over to the Hilton Hawaiian Village – which has changed SO much since our days of staying there (and honestly, not for the better, we thought…) to Aoka Teppanyaki restaurant.  As it was still early, we were able to a grill table just for the three of us, which was great!  I’d imagine this place gets really crowded later on in the evening!

 

So!  Fabulous, fabulous meal!!  We all actually ordered the same thing – filet mignon, although R and I have ours rare, and Debby wanted hers medium.  The meal started with an excellent green salad with a sesame dressing.  From there, our chef introduced himself and started cooking.  First, thick slices of zucchini, bean sprouts and Maui onions.  Then, he made some wonderful chicken fried rice to go with it, and finally, he prepared the main course – very tender filet mignon, cooked exactly the way we all liked it!  Truly exceptional!  And finally, once we managed to devour all that, ice cream or sherbert – Deb opted for vanilla, I had mint chocolate chip, and R had green tea.  Like I say, great meal!

...until they started cooking...

My pearls still have tape on them until tomorrow!

It was so windy, and so many sailboats on the ocean!

Then, walked back to the apartment – seemed that the wind had really picked up while we were having our meal! – and now I think we’re probably settled in for the evening.  A little later – 7:45 pm, there are supposed to be fireworks from the Hilton Hawaiian Village, so hope that goes off all right!!

 

Until tomorrow!

m

xxx

PS - Fireworks were WONDERFUL, and we only had to walk as far as our dining room (or Debby's bedroom!) to see them!  Amazing!

m

xxx