Sat 12/14: Oahu North Shore

We woke up at 7:30, which meant that we slept for over 9 hours!  Yay!  Waking up to waves crashing and our balcony view is the best!  The view was as fantastic as I had imagined last night.  

We watched some TV.  Took lots of photos of the view from the balcony. :-)

Todd using his iPhone for a panoramic photo.

Then we went downstairs to find breakfast.  We ended up at the Lobby Lounge.

I got an egg white breakfast wrap and Salted Caramel Chocolate coffee.

Todd got a toasted bagel and pumpkin spiced latte.  He loved the PSL!  The coffee was really good too.

The lobby had really awesome views of the ocean too.

It was very relaxing and fun.  I felt good and relaxed, finally!

After breakfast, went back to our room and watched TV.  Then I took a shower in the nice huge walk-in shower.  It was so awesome!  Around 11:15 or so, we left the hotel to explore and to eat lunch.  We were planning on meeting one of my good friends Lara for lunch at the shrimp truck.  I texted with Lara and she couldn't meet up with us at the shrimp truck for lunch because Rupert had wrist surgery yesterday and he was feeling not so good.  That's a bummer because it would have been great to see them!  We met up with them two years ago at the shrimp truck for lunch.  We drove east to Kahuku to find Giovanni's Shrimp Truck.  It had its own pavilion with lots of tables to eat at!  I didn't have to wait in line at all at that time, and there was parking.  It was really fantastic.

I got the shrimp scampi and there was so much garlic and so yummy!

Todd got the teriyaki beef from the Korean BBQ truck.

The shrimps were everything I remembered, so good.  I'm glad I brought the wet wipes because my hands definitely needed it afterwards!  After lunch we drove west & south.  There was a TON of traffic due to the Pipe Masters surfing competition, part of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing championships.  Little did we know that the winner of the competition, Kelly Slater, would be crowned that day!  No wonder it was insanely crowded!

It took us a long time in traffic but finally we made it to Haleiwa Beach Park.  We found a shady spot on the beach and sat for a while and took some photos.

Then we went into Haleiwa town and went to get shave ice at Matsumoto.  Another one of our Oahu favorites! 

We shared a large green apple & lychee shave ice with ice cream and condensed milk.

It was really good and even better than we remembered.  I attempted a Todd Shot.

Then we went across the street to the North Shore Trading Company.

North Pole at the North Shore!

It was a gift store with kitschy gifts.  We bought a gift for our next door neighbor, and Todd got a small brownie.  After that, we went walking around Haleiwa town and went to Longs Drugs.  At Longs I got some more ibuprofen, some sinus meds, and some sweet seedless li hing mui.  Then it was about 3 and we decided to drive back to Turtle Bay.  Fearing the worst of traffic, it wasn't too bad except for about a couple of miles.  On the way back, we stopped by a gas station and Todd got a big fountain coke.  Then we drove on and stopped by Ted's Bakery.

We had to get a slice of the famous Chocolate Haupia Pie!

Then we stopped at the farmer's market stands and bought some sliced pineapples and sliced papaya for breakfast tomorrow.  Yum!

Then we drove back to Turtle Bay Resort.

We rested for a little while, then we went on a walking tour of the resort.  All the pools were so awesome.

The sunset views were great and we took lots of photos.

We checked out the hammock too.

Then we stumbled upon the Ola restaurant on the grounds and decided to eat dinner there.

The atmosphere was Hawaii-perfect and beach-front awesome!

I had the ahi poke appetizer, which was the perfect sized dinner for me.

The sourdough bread with vanilla bean butter was amazing!

Todd got roasted pumpkin risotto with fish.  It was good too. 

After dinner we walked to the general store at the resort and bought some more water for our room.  And walked around and admired the Christmas decorations.

Then we hung out in our room and watched the first "Iron Man" movie.  Todd ate his haupia chocolate pie and I had a bite.  Todd loved it!

It was a pretty perfect first full day of vacation in Hawaii!