Touring the Island and Surfing

We finally went to Pearl Harbor, the day we dropped Sean off at the airport. We did a touristy day where we stopped at Dole Pineapple Plantation and then went to Pearl Harbor. Dole Pineapple Plantation was a trip- we went on the "Pineapple Express Train" with all these tourists. It actually wasn't a complete rip-off because the grounds of the plantation are so beautiful. Also I was reading Hawaii by James Michner so I was learning a lot about the pineapple crop anyways. The we went to the Arizona Memorial. It was really beautiful and touching. We watched a 30 minute movie before we took the boat out to the memorial which is right over where the USS Arizona sunk. It is so sad how many people died on that ship. They say there are still over 1000 men entombed in the Arizona.

Monday night we went to our usual bar, Red Lion, and we ended up seeing a bunch of friends we have made who were all there. We also met a team of Australian Rugby players who were really fun. They had won thier tournament in Sydney and the trip to Hawaii was their prize. We had a blast with them and hung out with them again later in the week. We also went surfing again with our neighbor Jake this weekend and then again today. Where we surf it is so pretty- it is on a reef so there are turtles everywhere. Today I was paddling out and literally 5 feet from my board a turtle popped its head out to say hi to me. I am getting better- the hardest part is paddling and catching the waves. I have no
problem standing up and riding in.

Tuesday we went to the Spa at turtle Bay- I got a coconut hair treatment because my hair is really dry and gross here from being in the water so much. It was really nice and then we stayed and had dinner at one of the restaurants. We watched the sunset over the gorgeous bay. Very romantic.
Yesterday we drove around the Windward Side of the Island. It was definitely the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen in my life. The road right on the water and the contrast between the green mountains and turquoise water is amazing. We drove all the way down to Kailua which is a small city and had lunch and went to the beach for a bit and then drove back. This is a picture of us in front of Chinaman's hat- an island that is shaped like a hat and a very famous tourist attraction. In case you are worried I am not coming home, here's a few reasons why although Hawaii is so beautiful and fun, I definitely could NOT live here forever.

1) Our neighbors wake us up by smoking pot at 8 in the morning a couple times a week.

2) Everyone drinks and drives ridiculously. Its horrible. When we go to the bar we always leave a little early to make sure we aren't on the road with all the wasted people.

3) We meet a lot of cute boys, but they are either really dumb surfers or they are in the military and headed to Iraq for a year.

4) So we go to this bar Cholo's in Haleiwa about 3 times a week and we always have the same waiter- he is really cute and funny and we usually see him out a few times a week. Yesterday we went to Cholo's and his arm was all wrapped up. Why you ask? He got STABBED.

5) Last night some local guys started talking to us at the bar. They then decided to give us a lecture on why you shouldn't do crystal meth (they call it ice here). Their reasoning? Because "crack is so much better for you."