taking a ride down memory lane on the pineapple express

as we continued crossing items off the list that the old lady had compiled at the beginning of our trip, we found ourselves back at the dole plantation up near the north shore.

despite the blazing sun and insane humidity, we headed on in and picked up tickets for the giant pineapple maze.  billed as the world's largest maze, it covers over 3 acres and you're given a game card to fill out as you scurry through it like a rat, searching for 8 total puzzle pieces.

and so off we went, knowing there was no way we'd be able to beat the current record time of 9 minutes or something crazy like that.

we spent a solid 45 minutes in there, traipsing through passageways that looked like this:

and managed to find most of the puzzle pieces.

i hate quitting anything before it's completely done, but none of us could handle the heat anymore, and the hub had given up long ago.  and so we slunk out of that maze and went inside the building in search of some refreshments.

we also had tickets to ride the pineapple express, so when we were sufficiently cooled off, we headed back outside to catch the train.

it was a nice little ride that took us around the plantation and gave us a bit of history about how pineapples in hawaii came to be.  i found it interesting, although others...did not.

want another "then and now" comparison?  check out the bean back in 2008, checking out the fish in the koi pond:

and now, feeding them happily with her sister.

the cardboard cutouts didn't change nearly as much as she did between visits.

 mahalo and aloha.

after grabbing a quick lunch in haleiwa, we decided to give this place another shot:

and this time, we were successful - after standing in a crazy long line.

more "then and now," you say?  here's one for me:

i definitely look older now than i did back then.  dang it.

i love souvenir tees.  here's a few that i didn't actually get:

but i did snag one from this kiosk.

we had just enough time to stop for a dip in the water, and this time everyone got in.

one more throwback picture, because it's fun:

ah, hawaii.  how we love to make memories with you.