Day 5 – Just Hangin’ in the Hood

Mike and I decided just to be local today and hang in the hood. Good thing we made that decision, we had a local honu hang with us for most of the day.

The day started with Mike and I parting ways. Remember if you are on a long vacation together (or retirement), spend some time apart. He went up to Moku’leia Access Road, for 1.5 miles up and the same down. He was scouting it as workout for us both. These are his views from his workout:

I walked the neighborhood and scouted out farmer’s stands. These are my views:

Our plan was to meet at Crozier Brow Parking (public access #64), which would lead us to the public beach. Funny thing is, we are just down the road, five whole minutes from the house in walking minutes.

I arrived five minutes ahead of Mike and found this car that had driven up on the beach.

I also had a mug of coffee from our new local favorite coffee place, Green World Farms. The mug was full of North Shore Blend, a mild roast that was yummy. Yup, I stood in the ocean and drank my coffee. Don’t fret I saved some for Mike.

Mike joined me and he brought with him fresh fruit that he cut up earlier. Of course we stood in the ocean with a Tupperware container and ate fresh fruit. Sorry no picture of that. Mike went for a quick dip and we headed home, we needed money to hit the local farm stands.

Back in the car, with money, we made three stops. I know we can walk to them, but we just worked out. Some of the produce I walked by at 7:30 a.m. was all out by 8 a.m. Damn locals, they know what time to get out and get the goods.

After we made an awesome score of limes, tangerines, avocados (missed out on papayas, sold out in 30 minutes) we went back to the house and relaxed. We sat on the beach, tanned (ok I’m Irish, I pink), and read. I went for a float and as I emerged from the water, I noticed a honu had beached himself. Time to play paparazzi. We were respectful of this gift and kept our distance. The images you see close up are zoomed in.

We ate lunch of last night’s yummy leftovers and I napped. After nap time, it was the hour to shower and head to the Haleiwa Farmer’s Market. First though, we had to drive through the hood to see if any of the farm stands added any new goodness. SCORE, fresh eggs, five bucks for a dozen and the farmers even wrote thank you on the carton. Who knew our hood farm stand would be better than the Haleiwa Market?

When we arrived in Oahu, three years ago, the market was in Haleiwa on government property. It was an amazing market then, run on a Sunday with food vendors galore and a few artist. Over time, it shut down because of some political thing or another and this year moved to Waimea Valley. We were excited that it lived on. As we were planning this trip, very few items were put on our icalendar, this was the one thing that appeared every Thursday on the calendar. I thought this would be the one weekly commitment and we could grab dinner out every Thursday here. We pulled in to a very busy place a little after four. We made our way in, weaving around tourists, dodging strollers in a tight spot, only to find a few food vendors and more artists. It catered to the tourist not the local neighbor. We picked up a handful of ice cream bananas and promptly left, feeling very let down. We can get better local items at Waialua Fresh.

We needed dinner and a pick me up, of course that meant stopping in at VJs North Shore Burger and Dogs.

We ventured home, to plan tomorrow and watch the sunset. I decided to see if our local friend was still hanging out and he was. He must be enjoying a good sleep, because he was drooling. Sorry no picture of the drool, I wouldn’t get that close.