Where Vegas is dry, barren, and a sort of pervasive brownish red tone, Hawaii is humid (ick), lush, and virtually covered in vegetation.  They are both topographically interesting with large mountains and beautiful backdrops.  The roadways are complete opposites.  Vegas benefits from being a reasonably recently developed area with modern traffic engineering, Hawaii has narrow windy roads crammed into every little hillside and path possible – Chloe and Michelle are enjoying taking Dramamine when we get in the car.  Each has a multicultural population and some severely depressed areas.

Today we’re going to make a quick trip that will accentuate some of those differences.  We’re going to take a windy road to the North Shore of the island where we will make a couple stops.

First stop will be the Waimea Bay Beach park up on the North Shore.  This area is supposed to be home to some gorgeous beaches, and is the location of one of the most famous surfing spots in the world.  Specifically, just off of Ehukai Beach Park is Banzai Pipeline, or just “Pipeline.”  The area is legendary and is known for massive long breaking waves.  During the winter months it isn’t uncommon for these waves to reach large heights and break with massive force.  The break is extremely dangerous due to a shallow coral reef directly underneath.  The reef drives the swells higher, and the air being released from the swells adds to the rise.  Professional surfers die at Pipeline.  But it is truly iconic.  And I’m going to surf it.  Yeah, right.  The break is notoriously unfriendly both from a size perspective and due to a fiercely territorial local mentality.  If you’re going to surf Pipeline you need to be a local, or be invited by a local.  It will be great to see.

The second stop is the Dole Pineapple Plantation.  I can’t wait to see the pineapples and the harvesting operations.  The plan is to have lunch there and then enjoy a “dole whip” for dessert.

We should be back to the craziness of Waikiki by mid afternoon and will have some time to swim and enjoy the water.  When we took a quick walk yesterday morning on the beach we all stood in awe at the ocean.  Compared to our sea of sand and rock at home, it was pretty captivating.