leisurely drive through north shore

for some reason the next morning was super busy at the hotel gym.  so much so that i had to be put on a waitlist to get in.  i didn't really want to wait to get my workout in, so i ended up joining the hub for his daily yoga class instead.  i think i've mentioned before that i really hate yoga - it's a really good workout and i still get my sweat on, but it's too slow for me.  i lose interest pretty quickly.  still, i was amused to see the bean standing on the lanai above us, capturing the moment for me to remember forever.

after class, the hub and i went over to honolulu coffee co. for our morning lattes and a quick bite.

we headed upstairs to get cleaned up and change so we could hop in the car and take a nice drive up to the north shore, where we stopped in at foodland for some lunch before hitting the beach.

and we stopped at ted's bakery for a slice of their famous chocolate haupia pie.  so delicious.

it's not a trip to o'ahu for us without a stop at sunset beach.  but since we were missing two of our family members, we skipped the group photo.

while we were up there, we decided to stop in at turtle bay resort to check out their recent remodel.  we hadn't been here since the bean was little, and it was quite the upgrade from how we remembered it from that last visit over a decade ago.  they're still putting the finishing touches on it, but the majority of the resort is completely renovated.

they make a pretty good hawaiian latte here, too.

this looks like a pretty nice gym with a sweet view.

they even have a resort dog that you can "reserve" to take on walks.  he'd just returned from one with a guest, and he was happily stretched out on the floor with a chew toy.  

it's also not a trip to north shore without a stop at matsumoto's for some shave ice.  yes, there are lots of other places on the island for good shave ice - hell, even just across the street - but this is tradition, dammit.

and then we decided to cap off our day with a stop at one of the many food trucks.  short ribs and shrimp made for a super tasty and pretty cheap dinner.

i think we managed to check off all the boxes in one day - beach, resort, shave ice, shrimp.  done and done.