Hawaii Day 5: The Dole Plantation and Lunch

On Friday, we headed back to the North Shore. But this time, we took a different route that took us past the Dole Plantation. That was our first stop for the day. We decided to do the train ride through the plantation and the maze. We started with the train ride becuase they told us that the line can get really long. 

We squeezed all of us into 4 rows.

I had no idea that pineapples looked like this while growing. There were a lot of other crops growing on the plantations (fruit trees, and veggies)

After the train ride we went inside to see the pineapple cutting presentation. The lady taught us that when you cut a pineapple, it releases a lot of acid. That can irritate your mouth, so you should always soak your pineapple in cold water when you cut it to wash that stuff off. Then you are just left with the sweetness. Pineapple has always bothered Ashley's mouth, so she was very grateful for this tip. They also introduced us to Li Hing powder. We were worried it would be spicy because it looks like it has chili powder in it, but it was very sweet and tasty. We bought some to take home and my kids love eating pineapple now.

After the pineapple cutting, we got dole whip. Not sure why this photo is so blurry, but it was the only one I had of the dole whip treats.

After our dole whip treats we headed into the maze. They had 10 stations that you were supposed to find in the maze. We each had a card where we could mark off each station we found. We split into pairs and headed off into the maze. Robbie and Alyssa were determined to win. I think they ended up finishing second.

When each of us finished, we gathered at this mini pineapple shaped maze in the middle. A lot of the group played real life among us. They also played a tag game where one person was it and ran away from the others. You couldn't climb over the barriers to catch them. 

After the maze, we took a couple of pictures and then headed further north.

Our plan was to stop at a shaved ice place about 15 minutes up the road in this cute little beach town. But when we got there, the line was out the door and along the building. It probably had 50-75 people in the line. We decided that was not worth it, so we found a burger place for lunch instead.