Wow! Aloha Friday here in paradise was great! We got out of the hotel and began our search straightway for Portuguese sausage eggs and rice, which is literally the breakfast of choice for many locals here. So much so that they have it at McDonald’s. That was yummy! We had that and decided to do a bunch of video today and drive around the entire island.

We headed towards Kaimuki and stopped at Leonard’s bakery for some famous and incredibly delicious malasadas, which must be some ancient word for “greasy spongy sugary yumminess” in some language here. Nobody can touch the perfection level given you at this place for malasadas, hands down. We ate most of the ones we bought right there in the parking lot, cuz they’re SO good hot!

Then we proceeded to go through Kaimuki and Kahala and take Kalanianaole Hwy over to Hawaii Kai where we used to live. We stopped by the old town house and videotaped it in its current state, just cuz. It was such a perfect day to drive around the island, I must say. We saw Sandy Beach on the east side as we went around the bend over to Makapuu and Waimanalo. The view and the water were gorgeous! It has been too long since I had seen that area! The colors in the water were so many shades of teal and green and blue and my polarized sunglasses made the colors pop out even more.

I told Trish about the time I almost drowned at Makapuu beach…I was boogie boarding and got pounded into the rocky area. I lost my board and was getting pounded over and over by the set that came in and got my legs scratched up really good on the rocks. But I made it! Thank God!

As we drove through Waimanalo, I remembered much simpler days, although my days were in town and Waimanalo is beautiful country tucked beneath what I think is the most breathtaking part of the Ko’olau mountain range. The whole time on that side of the island, we drove past school after school that was right by the water. That’s just so cool!

We made our way over to Kailua and drove through Lanikai and got lost for a bit (sheesh! some local I turned out to be) and saw some cool homes by the water. Trish and I have teased each other about the idea of coming back to Hawaii to live, and where we might want to live, all things considered (read: money not being an issue). We always come back to Lanikai for some reason. It is neatly tucked away and such a beautiful beach town. Maybe it’s the haole in me or something, cuz there are a lot of haoles over on the Kailua side for sure.

We took the long way around Kaneohe Bay next. It’s a winding road right on the waterfront. Once we made it around, we soon found ourselves out by Chinaman’s Hat or Kualoa beach park. We stopped there to stretch and take photos and some video. Trish went “swimming” up to her knees for a bit. It was so soothing to hear the little waves lap up on the shore. It’s like, but even better than, those Corona beer ads that put you on a beach and make you feel relaxed etc by the gorgeous water. sigh….that’s my Hawaii right there.

We also saw some Portuguese Man of War on the sand. Three within a 9 foot stretch of beach. That’s the risk you take when you swim on the windward side of the island..the jellyfish blow right on up and can sting pretty bad. Knock on wood, I have never been stung in my lifetime thus far! We took some more photos and carried on towards La’ie.

I used to make that drive alot when I was in college out at BYU in La’ie. It doesn’t really get old, it’s so pretty. Once there, we stopped for photos at the PCC and the temple, then drove over to BYU campus to show Trish where my dorm was and where I played music and so on. She says I already showed her all of this long ago when we were first dating or married. Oops!

We proceeded through Kahuku and you’ll never guess what we saw, correction, I saw first! Cows! “Look a cow!” I yelled. “I win! HA HAAAAAAA!” we always play this game in our family while in the car, if you are the first to see a cow and you say “look a cow!” you win. What does one win, you may ask? Haley family bragging rights, that’s what! And I won the contest all the way over in Hawaii! Booya! Trish was a good sport, letting me rub it in BIG time!

We stopped on the north shore at Waimea to see the younger generation have their turn having fun jumping off “the rock” that is there on the beach. That place is really crowded now!

We stopped at Matsumoto’s in Haleiwa for shave ice, but the line was about 30 people strong and we were not THAT hard up for it so we kept going.

We drove through the old pineapple fields on the way through the valley under the Waianae mountain range. It is always awesome to be near those mountains. I think of December 7, 1941 sometimes while I look across that valley and see how easy it looks to fly a plane through it, below mountain peak levels. I also think of the history with the pantations and see all the old red oxidized dirt. I also see the shortcut home from the north shore. It’s a beautiful side of the island.

We made it back into town and stopped to eat and shop at Ward Warehouse. Trish saw an old co-worker friend at Executive Chef where she used to work when she was putting us through school. We then proceeded to eat two huge Korean bbq combo plates! Yum! The Korean lady serving us cracked me up! You get 4 choices of side vegetable with the combo plate and as soon as I say the first choice, she says “and?”…uh…uh….and some kim chee “and??”…uh..uh…the pressure! It was freakng hilarious! It was just like in that movie Dude Where’s My Car? when the lady at the drive thru kept saying “an den??” ha ha ha ha! “no mo an den!!!”

Trish decided to then relax at the hotel and let me go play at Corey’s house (apartment now). We sang a little karaoke and then stayed up till 3 playing guitar hero on the playstation. Dude!!! That game so totally rules! I am definitely going to try to get my hands on that very soon!

It was quite a fun filled day!