North Shore Musings

Mokolii Island aka Chinaman's Hat

A few weeks ago after church, my friend Tricia introduced me to a girl who had just moved to Hawaii from Dallas, Texas. Because she was new to the islands a bunch of us decided to head up to the North Shore and show her some sights.

The first place we stopped at was Kualoa Regional Park (although technically it's on the East Shore, it's on the way to the North Shore). Kualoa is easily recognizable by Mokolii Island or more commonly known as Chinaman's Hat.

While we were there, I'm not sure how, but the subject of "Puff, the Magic Dragon" came up. Now, I know there are some people who like to listen to songs and take them at face value. That's great. My friend Ruthy is one of them. She likes the song that tells of a nice dragon that frolicks in the land of Honah Lee. My other friend Kevin, on the other hand, likes to shatter images of nice dragons in the minds of those who like to listen to songs and take them at face value. Kevin informed Ruthy of a common interpretation of the song in which Peter, Paul and Mary are not singing an innocent song of dragons but instead they are singing about smoking a joint (you can read about it here). This is Ruthy's priceless reaction:

"Puff" is NOT really a magical dragon?

But anyway, we continued on to Waimea Bay and jumped off the rock. It's probably only a 25 foot jump, but for some it was enough to make them shake in their boots! Jasen, on the other hand, proceeded to launch himself off the rock and do some crazy poses. Although this one is a little blurry, you can see his superman pose.

Jasen's textbook suicide pose

And of course, what trip to the North Shore would be complete unless you had shave ice? Instead of going to the more famous Matsumoto's (which was closed), we went to Aoki's. Even though it was getting late and everyone was freezing from the beach. We all had to take part in this delicious dessert. If you've never had shave ice it is basically ice shaved with a blade from a block of ice (hence, the name). They then place it in a paper cone and add flavored syrup (I had the li hing mui, watermelon and lychee flavors). Sometimes they put azuki beans and ice cream on the bottom, but I opted not to have any of that. Overall, it was a beautiful weekend that I'm sure will be remembered by all. Join us on our next island adventure!

Jenny and Joy enjoy a refreshing shave ice!