Getting Away from Honolulu

Day two in Hawaii and there was no escaping the heat outside. At least there were little white clouds in that blue sky.

When I put together this trip, I made a reservation. Because I did not want to miss the opportunity to see more of Hawaii. While I could have stayed by the convention center and watched the opening ceremony, I wanted to do more than that. 

So I took a walk to Waikiki. 

One thing I can say about the Honolulu area, there are lots of pretty flowers and plants. But like Tokyo, it can be really difficult finding places. But I did find where I needed to go. 

And ended up behind the wheel of the car I reserved. After stopping at the local Nijiya Market (which was way less expensive than the restaurants around the hotel) I headed out of Honolulu.

My plan was to finally see a bucket list place. Can I say, even though I was tired, that I really enjoyed this part of my trip? Because I did. 

Lots of open fields on this drive to the northern part of O'ahu. So pretty. 

I didn't have time to plan much for this drive, but when I saw the sign for Green World Coffee Farm I had to take a look. Sometimes the best part of going somewhere is the trip there. And stopping when you feel like it. 

Green World Coffee Farm was a popular place with a number of people in there. Along with chickens. 

Inside is a bakery shop, a retail shop and lots of places to sit and sip coffee. And lots of coffee to sample. Outside there are areas for kids to play and this. 

Not sakura but the Jacuranda trees were pretty. 

Underneath the trees were coffee plants. And under the coffee plants were more chickens. 

It was the start of growing for the coffee cherries. Since I had never seen coffee plants like this, it was an interesting experience.

And a good place to sit and sample their coffee. 

There are also a lot of places to sit inside where there are cooling fans. 

I enjoyed a lilikoi bar there with another sample of coffee. Lilikoi is what Hawaiians call passionfruit. The bar was a good choice to go with the coffee. I don't remember which of the Green World coffees this was. I tried them all. Good stuff. Green World Coffee Farm's website is here in case anyone wants to check it out. They do sell online https://greenworldcoffeefarm.com/

Back to the car because I only had so many hours and I wanted to make the most of them. And this little Mustang was a pleasure to drive. 

It was so pretty here. The mountain ranges were gorgeous. 

I wish I had better photos. I'm not sure if the humidity and heat played a part. Because these photos do not do the landscape justice. 

On to that bucket list place. I finally reached the end of land after passing by miles of pineapple fields and the Dole Plantation. I was tempted but it looked really touristy. I did eat my share of pineapple on this trip, just not at the Plantation. 

So this bucket list place with beautifully colored waters and lava shores?

It's the North Shore. And yes, the waves were breaking and people were surfing. 

The color of the ocean around Oahu, gorgeous. I could have just sat all day looking at the views. 

But there was this car. 

I had hoped to see more of North Shore. I headed into town but there was a lot of traffic. And I didn't come to Hawaii to sit in traffic. Back out to the highways. I attempted to drive Highway 83 east to go along the coast, but there was traffic. So I headed back the way I came, towards Honolulu. But I wasn't ready to call it a day.

Instead I decided to go across Oahu on Highway H3. Up into those gorgeous green mountains.

They are so beautiful and in places very tall. So how do people get to the east side of the island? 

By going through the mountains. The Tetsuo Harano Tunnels are impressive.

Out the other side and I see a beautiful image. 

It's just a peek of Kailua Bay and it was beautiful. I had not planned going here so I did not look up places to stop at. My one big regret of this trip. If I am ever back here, this is where I want to stay. 

And the other side of those mountains. My photos do not do them justice at all. 

I got off the main road and tried to find a place to stop. My iPhone maps were helpful in finding my way around but I couldn't find a place with a great view. So I stopped in a neighborhood and took a few photos. 

The area is Kaneohe and the mountains are the Ko'olau Range. 

They are the remnants of the western side of the shield volcano Ko'olua. It was amazing to see the jagged edges of the rocky slopes with so much greenery clinging to it. 

Ko'olau Volcano eruptions created many of the popular natural landmarks on Oahu, like Diamond Head and Punchbowl Crater. It has not erupted in recent history but they do keep watch over it. 

With no luck finding a place to stop at, I headed back out onto the highway. Since I had crossed Oahu Island from the west side to the east side, why not do the same from the north side to the south side? 

Back towards Honolulu and traffic. The one good thing about this is that there is only so much highway to get backed up. But yeah, Oahu has traffic.

And down to the south side of the island. One of the perks of exploring by car is I had traveling air conditioning. Because it was still hot and very sunny. 

I think this was Kawaikui Beach Park. Not crowded, mostly locals just enjoying the outdoors. 

The Koko Crater area. I wish I had more time to explore places like this. There is definitely a lot to see in Oahu outside of Honolulu. 

And the ocean from the south side. So I went from the north side to south side and west side to east side. I crossed Oahu in both directions. That was good. I'm really glad I did this. 

And finally back to the hotel after dropping off the car. Time to enjoy a piece of Poi Banana Bread from Green World Farm. The bakery where they get this from is Hi Pie in Honolulu. Delicious and moist, it was good to eat something that was distinctly Hawaiian.