Hibiscus hedges, frustration, and soft-serve pineapple ice cream
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side·track (sīd´trăk): n. 1. A diversion from the main course. 2. A detour taken with children that you would never, ever take without them.
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Who:
Me, my maze-obsessed son (6), and my sister.

What:
We pulled off the Kamehameha Highway in Oahu, to make a stop at the Dole Plantation. We were drawn in by the promise of pineapple-shaped souvenirs, a ride on the Pineapple Express, and the World’s Largest Maze.

Why:
I needed a good excuse to get my hands on that famous pineapple soft-serve ice cream delicacy: the Dole Whip. Oh, and my son was a maze-crazed kindergartener, whom I could easily persuade to get out of the car for a trek through a life-size labyrinth. I’m sneaky like that.

The High Point:
Realizing that we had arrived at the Dole Plantation less than 30 minutes before closing time. Which meant we had to run frantically through the 2.5 miles of hibiscus paths looking for the hidden stations, trace the symbols found at each station onto our maze card, and make it into the snack bar before they turned off the Dole Whip machines. We like to do a lot of good-natured yelling and running on our family trips, so we just loved the challenge of it all.

The Low Point:
We didn’t beat the record time of 2:38 minutes (or maybe it was 1:56 minutes) to get our prize and our names permanently recorded on a sign at the maze entrance. That kind of fame will have to wait until our next trip. Our family’s record time was an astounding 25:14 minutes. Which only gave us 4:86 minutes to get our frozen treats.

The Kid’s Take:
Loved every minute of it. I mean, where else can you get your mom and aunt to sprint hysterically through a tropical maze? Not many other places, I daresay.

The Bottom Line:
The admission price for this once-in-a-lifetime experience is $6 per adult and $4 per child. It was worth every penny. And so was getting to sit my sweaty, tired self at a quiet picnic table with my heavenly Dole Whip Float. Don’t forget that the maze closes at 5 p.m. daily.

Although Carolina Papa would like to blame her sidetracked travel moments on her son, she is often the one looking for the detour. She writes about family travel in the western United States, at her blog Kids Go West.

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June 28th, 2010 | by Carolina Papa 4 comments