Today was a busy day of site-seeing. We started off with a 1 hr drive to Koaloa Ranch for a Jurassic Adventure tour, to see many of the sites used to film TV shows and movies including some of the Jurassic Park movies, 50 first dates, Jumanji and the TV show Lost.
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| Overlooking Kaneohe Bay at the Navy plane that overshot the runway earlier this week |
The first stop was at a bunker on the property where some of the props from the movies/shows were stored. AA was more interested in the view outside the bunker than what was inside the bunker.
The next stop was at the base of Koaloa Valley which has a spectacular view into the Koaloa Mountain Range. The kids really enjoyed the "sleeping grass" that was pointed out by our tour guide.
The next stop was at the tree stump from Jurassic Park where we all posed for photo.
It was a short(ish) drive up the valley to a couple more sets from Jurassic World which offered some spectacular views of the valley and the ocean.
On the drive back down the valley, we had to stop a couple times to wait for some cows to get off our path. This allowed our tour guide to explain that when producers are shooting movies/shows, they need to work around the Ranch tours which do not stop.
As we drove out of the valley and over to the other side of the Ranch, we passed by "the boneyard" from Godzilla or King Kong (AA doesn't remember which movie). All the bones are made from styrofoam.
The drive to the other side of the Ranch was quite bumpy. It was very interesting to learn about the history of the Ranch (has been owned by the same family since the 1850's, was purchased for $1,300). On our way to our last stop, we were given some amazing views of Kaneohe Bay.
Our last stop was at a set from the Jurassic World movie. B and T were very excited to pose with (and as) some of the dinosaurs.
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| Re-creating the photo from the movie (above) |
After the tour, it was time for lunch at Aunty Pat's Cafe (at the Ranch). Everyone was hungry and needed some food before making the drive back to the condo. Lola did not enjoy the birds that frequented the picnic table area.
It was a modest drive back to the condo, not much traffic compared to Wednesday. The time was well spent - a quick nap taken by some and screen time for others.
Back at the condo, everyone changed into their swim gear and headed to the beach to catch some waves before heading back to make a Thanksgiving meal.
There was just enough time for a couple more rounds of video games before calling it a night.
We all had a very fun day and were all very thankful that we were able to spend it together.
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