Island Tour

We rented a car this morning and hit the road.  Sadly, we forgot the map in the hotel room.  So, armed only with a suspect tour book from National car rental, we set forth in search of the North Shore.  Everywhere we went the scenery was spectacular.  We pulled the car over several times for exploring and photos.  We saw a huge Monk seal lounging on the beach near where surfers were doing their thing.  We were able to walk within a few feet of the seal, which was cool.  There were plenty of signs warning us not to get too close.  On the Windward side of the island, we stopped a couple more places for photos.  We saw mist-covered valleys and jagged rock formations along the shore.  It was a challenge at times to compose a shot with the camera that didn't include other idiot tourists in it.  We passed a bunch of great-looking swimming spots, but pressed on towards the North Shore.  We managed to find a 7-eleven for a couple nice Slurpees...and a cool 7-eleven Hawaii t-shirt.  By mid-day, we arrived at Hale'iwa Town.  This is a small surfing town that we found on our last trip to Hawaii back on 2006.  Everyone loved the beach and the giant sea turtles, so the two of us wanted to go back again this time.  First stop in Hale'iwa was the world-famous shrimp trucks.  There are hundreds of these trucks around Oahu that sell hot meals on the side of the road.  Jennifer loves garlic shrimp, so she ordered some for lunch.  After lunch we spent some quality time at the beach.  It was very hot and the sand was unbearable at times.  Ouch.  We found a nice spot close to the water and watched for sea turtles most of the afternoon.  Saw a lot of turtle heads popping out of the water, but the beach was crowded so they pretty much stayed away.  Darn.  On our way back to the hotel we took a couple unintended detours, over the hills and through a rainforest.  Traffic was bad but we managed to return the rental car with an hour to spare.  Dinner was late.  Outback Steakhouse.  They changed their menu and all their yummy recipes.  That's all I'm going to say about that.