We were having a leisurely morning after the long day yesterday which was interrupted by our host Karen bringing some fresh bananas from their farm! They were pretty tasty just picked from the tree! We also have had our 3rd pineapple courtesy of our hosts. We’ve enjoyed it for dinner a couple of times and had it again for lunch today. More coming for dinner tonight!
After breakfast we headed out for our first planned activity of the day–the Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Gardens located just down the road from where we’re staying. See www.htbg.com for some info. We got there about 9 AM opening hour and stayed until 11:30. Lots of tropical flowers and other plants to photograph. Tried to find a geocache just outside the gardens on a public path down to the ocean without success. However, our 1st cache of three for the day was on a bridge on the Old Mamalahoa Highway which is now a scenic byway. Reminded us of the Road to Hana with all it’s one lane bridges.
On our list was to get a smoothie at the local “best” place on Hawaii…. What’s Shakin’! Well, Joyce had packed our lunch and the smoothie spot was just a little ways up from the gardens. We stopped in and ordered a Bananarama (Joyce) and a Paradise Passion (Gary). They were really flavorful with lots of island fruits. Ate our bread, cheese and salami, fresh pineapple (see above) and ended with Nutter Butters for dessert.
Then it was on to the famous and largest waterfalls in Hawaii–the Aka’ka waterfalls. This was in a state park that costs $5 to park. The walk was about 0.5 mile on a sidewalk trail. It had a lot of ups (stairs) and downs that contributed to the 34 stairs on Gary’s fitbit and 35 on Joyce’s. There was another waterfall in the park, but it was not very photogenic because of all the overgrowth that covered it up from the viewing points. We moved on to the Aka’ka where good photography was possible. Gary set up his tripod in the best spot and got out the neutral density filter so he could use a slow shutter speed to make the water flow silky smooth. Look fine on the camera’s small screen, but will have to see it on the computer to know if the photos were successful. (That’s a project for back in Wilmington). We were successful in finding our second cache in a guardrail just outside the state park and an uphill walk to get it. Of course, it was downhill to the car. Half of what Gary prefers….downhill both ways!
When we finished at the waterfalls it was only 3:30 and we weren’t hungry and decided to go to the Japanese Gardens in Hilo on Banyan Street. We’d been by it a couple of days ago and thought it looked interesting. Besides, there were two caches there. We only found one, out 3rd for the day, because the other had gone missing and been temporarily archived. The gardens were very different than most other Japanese gardens we’ve visited. Lots of bridges, pools and lanterns. No Zen garden! An imposing black cloud suggested that maybe we should conclude our visit and head home. It was about 5:30 and seemed like a good time to rest up from the day’s activities on the lanai.
Home about 5:45 and Joyce assembled the dinner while Gary poured the cold white wine to enjoy on the lanai.
Another nice day in Hawaii!