Zip Lining at Keana Farms, North Shore Tourist Eating and Photo Session- Friday
The next morning we had booked a zip lining adventure at Climbworks Keana Farms (
https://www.climbworks.com/keana_farms/). We chose this place over Kualoa Ranch based in part on some TRs I read on the DIS but largely because DD7 didn't meet the height/weight requirements for Kualoa but was OK for Climbworks and she wanted to go. Our reservation was at 9:30am but you are supposed to arrive 30min early. We weren't sure how much traffic we would encounter so we left around 7:45am.
I'm not sure if it was because we didn't have to go all the way into Honolulu or what but we weren't too impressed with the dreaded Oahu traffic. There was a little bit near Wheeler Airfield but that was it. We got to Keana Farms in plenty of time.
MIL did not want to zip line and FIL ended up decided not to go either. The rest of us checked in and got fitted for our harnesses. DH had brought the GoPro and some various options to attach it with but the were able to provide him with a helmet that already had a GoPro mount- sweet! There was another small group of 3 they put with us (so a total of 10) and we set off. They have you do one zipline near the check in area I think as something of a "shakedown" in case anyone finds out zip lining isn't for them or they need to adjust anything. DD7 is pretty funny. She has been zip lining before but sometimes struggles with stepping off the platform. Somehow she convinced the guides to push her off instead (why she finds that less scary I don't understand!) and once she's moving loves it. By the end of course she was confidently stepping off on her own. Here's the first zip line (DD7 on the left).
After the first line they have you load up in some ATVs and take you to the top of the hill for the real adventure. Climbworks is on a working farm and the ride up was really enjoyable. The driver told us all about the various crops and plants we went by on the way, even stopping briefly a couple times to talk about things.
The view from the top is beautiful.
Our guides were 3 late teens early twenties guys who were super nice, great with the kids and pretty funny too. We really enjoyed our zip lining adventure at Climbworks and would highly recommend it. I'd never been zip lining and thought it was awesome!
Again, as it's a working farm, they told us a little about the crops we would zip over and after two of the lines they actually had samples- macadamia nuts at one (that you had to crack yourself- kinda fun) and apple bananas at the other. Both were delicious! There were also plenty of water stations throughout the course. Moving from zip line to zip line wasn't too strenuous but there were a few steep stairs/ramps, a couple suspension bridges and one section where they have you hoist yourself up (but they'll help you if you can't make it).
DD13 hoisting herself up
A few more photos:
DD13 and DH
DD7 on the left, DD9 on the right
The last line they call their trick line. For all others they have you keep your hands on the handle bar. For this one, they tell you you can kick up your legs or even let go and "hang" upside down for the first half of the zip. Amazingly, I was one of the only ones that managed/was willing to try full upside down.
(DD13 on the left, I'm on the right)
We really enjoyed the zip line adventure and highly recommend Climbworks. They take photos of you at several points throughout the course and you have the options of purchase them (individual or all) at the end. We decided to just purchase them all- I think it was $50. You get a link to download the photos. Several of the photos above are theirs and they got a number of good ones so it was worth it.
FIL and MIL did some driving around and sightseeing on the North Shore while we zip lined and met us at the bottom of the course when we finished (I texted them when we were starting the final zip so they knew when to head back). It was now about 11:30am and time for lunch. Lucky us...guess what's basically right across the street from Keana Farms?
The shrimp were indeed delicious and our DDs were OK with the garlic hot dog they have as an alternate though we at least got them to try some shrimp. I like garlic but not too much so I was worried about getting just the full on garlic shrimp so we got one lemon butter and one scampi to share between DH, DD9 and me. The lemon butter was good but the scampi (the one with the garlic) was better and not too overpowering. The garlic butter was also delicious on the rice. The line to order moved fairly quickly but we did wait a bit for the food. All the adults in our group really like shrimp and agreed it was delicious and totally worth the wait (and GF!). There were some other food trucks in this little area but we didn't visit any of them or pay particularly close attention to what they had, sorry.
To complete our North Shore tourist food stop, we hit up Matsumoto in Haleiwa on the way back.
The line was a bit long but moved quickly. While the shave ice was good- perfect melt in your mouth consistency- we all ended up kind of deciding we just didn't love shave ice.
We had one last stop before heading back to Aulani. Remember DD13 had decided she really wanted a ukelele? We had done some research and while it would have been awesome to have visited one of the factories we didn't have time. We did find out there is a store in Haleiwa right down the street from Matsumoto's called The Ukelele Site that specializes in them. So we headed down there to see what they had, knowing that they would probably mostly be out of our price range. Indeed, the wide array of beautiful ukeleles they had were mostly out of our price range but the staff were super nice and helpful and did help DD13 select a nice entry level model that isn't Hawaiian made (the real Hawaiian made ones are $$$) but was the starter line for one of the Hawaiian ukelele companies. They were willing to restring it lefty for her but she ended up deciding to keep it strung the traditional way. Apparently one of the most famous ukelele players is a lefty who plays righty (according to the guy in the shop) so she was inspired. I admit it's always seemed odd to me with guitars etc that the traditional setup has you doing the more intricate fingerwork on the fret with your non-dominant hand so perhaps being a lefty playing righty is actually the secret to being a ukelele virtuoso.
While we could have spent more time exploring the North Shore, we had to get back to Aulani. Our extended family has never taken family photos and its something MIL and I had been wanting. I suggested we consider doing this at Aulani. We talked through various options (trying the free PhotoPass by the beach, doing the 20 min reserved time or just going for the full portrait session) and decided on the full portrait session. As we were 8 people, we had to book the large session which is 40 minutes for $350 and includes a DVD with all photos BUT you don't pay until after you view the photos. If you don't like the photos you are not obligated to purchase. I called to book this about 2 weeks ahead of time and selected 4:40pm which was the last session before the $50 sunset premium kicked in. We didn't want full sunset photos anyway but I figured this way we would have some lovely "golden hour" lighting for at least part of our session as sunset was to be around 6pm. Normally they say you can view your photos 24hrs later in Kalepa store at the PhotoPass kiosks but I told them we were checking out early the next day. She assured us they would be ready for viewing by 8am the next morning.
We cut our time a little close getting everyone ready but we all made it down to the beach to meet our photographer by 4:45pm (the ones who were ready first made it down by 4:35ish to locate her). They had us meet her on the beach but off to the far left side near the public restrooms and past the wedding chapel. As we were walking down they were setting up a wedding on the terrace outside 'Ama 'Ama that looked gorgeous- that will be a memorable wedding for sure!
The photographer was wonderful. She did a good job of engaging the girls and taking a mix of photos. She had a small set up with some front light for fill as the sun was behind us as well. The only surprise was she did have us wading in the water for most of the shots. Two of my girls had long dresses on so weren't super exited about this but managed to deal with it and even knowing ahead of time I may still have gone with the same dresses as they worked so well together.
Needless to say we were very happy with the photos. Here are a few (she took 171 shots).
She had us all do a fun one at the end where we were splashing water toward the camera
SIL and FIL ran off immediately after the photo session to "make a run to the store for something" while the rest of us went back up and tried to dry off the wet clothes. We had dinner reservations at Roy's which is at the golf club across the street in an hour or so. We had figured everyone would be dressed up and it would be a good evening for a nice dinner. The menu at 'Ama 'Ama didn't really appeal to everyone too much so we settled on Roy's instead.
At first we couldn't figure out where Roy's was. We went over to where google maps said it was but didn't see it. We drove around the golf club parking lot a few times before finally everyone got out to go look for it while I parked. It turns out it's behind/next to the clubhouse and you just go in there. When I walked back up on foot from parking I easily saw the sign above the breezeway but it's not positioned in a way that's easy to see from in a car under the portico.
I found Roy's to be OK but not amazing, especially for the price. In our group, people's assessment seemed to vary some based on what they ordered but no one was blown away. Service was also very slow (beyond this is a fancy restaurant and we serve you at a leisurely pace slow. Just plain slow. Super slow to take the order, appetizers then came pretty fast but very long wait for entrees, verrrryy long wait for the check etc).
Unbeknownst to me, the family had decided this was my birthday dinner even though, as mentioned earlier, my actual birthday isn't until December. But it was my birthday trip so I went along with it. They even went to the length of telling the server so they came and sang and everything. At this point I also found out why SIL and FIL and rushed off after photos. They had to go pick up a custom Gluten Free, Corn Free, Dairy Free cake they had ordered from a local bakery as a surprise.
I had started to suspect something might be up but it was still a nice surprise. The cake itself was OK, not amazing- apparently there had been a mix up though. MIL had gone to order the cake from the bakery earlier in the week (and brought back the cupcakes DDs were secretly eating in their room when DH and I went across the street for ice cream) but when they tried to pick it up earlier that afternoon on the way back from Haleiwa the bakery had missed the order. The owner was super apologetic and threw something together but that was why SIL and FIL had to run off after photos- to go back and pick up the 'make up' cake which wasn't exactly what had been ordered as they were out of the filling. All in all, I certainly appreciated the surprise and it was a nice closure to our last night on vacation.
Next Up- Check Out and Final Thoughts
)
