Hawaii - Crouching Lion Hike and Dole Plantation

September 8

I wanted to take advantage of this jet lag effect and also the fact that we had a beautiful patio that overlooked the ocean for the sunrise and I got up to watch it. It was lovely way to wake up, watching it while drank some juice. We had a slow morning making breakfast: pancakes with strawberries and bananas, our soon to be staple for our mornings. Mom also made some coffee, and I would soon discover Lions Vanilla Macadamia to be my new favorite cup of black coffee. One last note about our dreamy morning, I loved being back in the kitchen and cooking. It was a hobby of mine I didn't realize how much I missed. I missed my own food, but also the act of preparing it. 

So we ate our pancakes on the patio and drank our coffee, all with the miraculous view of the ocean. We took our sweet ole time, also taking it to figure out what we wanted to do for the day. My friend recommended a nearby hike that looked incredible, and it was only a ten minute drive away. I had to do it. 

So Crouching Lion was on the morning agenda. I was so excited to do this hike. Mom started the hike with me, it was an easy go at the beginning because it was a trail through the forest with only a slight incline. But it started to get a bit dicey with roots and not poor trail conditions which was when mom bailed but I kept going because I had to see the top. 

She stopped at a good time because it got way worse after. Nothing I couldn’t handle but no way she could. I made a friend along the way because my water bottle fell out of my backpack when I was leaning forward because it was that slippery, and she caught it for me and we finished the hike together. I was so surprised by how bad the trail got. It was even because it was physically hard, but the trail was just loose dirt. There was no traction on the trail and my shoes were so slick because I wore these all summer I just burned them to the ground practically so there was nothing on my side except for this girl in front of me. We made it to the top, and she went a bit further but I was quite satisfied with the view from where I stopped, feeling bad making mom wait for me at the bottom and not wanting to take too long. There were these other girls up top chatting and I asked for a photo and they knew the drill. They got so many incredible shots and I was so grateful for them. It was my intro photo to Hawaii and it was more than perfect. 

I found my girl again and we hiked back down together. Thank goodness for our good timing because she gave me a hand here and there and I slipped a few times but caught myself thankfully. It reminded me off one hike in Canada last simmer where I literally slide down the mountain. I really need to invest in a good pair of hiking boots, and some poles for times such as then. But, once we reached the forest part I knew we were good and that dicey way down was so worth the incredible view up top. 

I found mom at the base, she just chatted with friends on her phone while I did my hike, and was still in nature and not just sitting around in the car. She said she didn’t mind waiting. It’s funny how when we were kids she would wait for us at amusement parks and now she's doing the same but waiting for me to finish my hike up and down a mountain. 

We went back to the condo to get some lunch and figure out what else to do with our day. We thought, might as well go to Dole Plantation because it was something we wanted to do and we had some time that we might as well knock it out now. So we got ready for the plantation and left.

The drive there was slightly far, it was almost an hour as we had to go up and around the north shore, and then down into the middle valley. It was such a lovely drive, I was so enjoying being a passenger princess this trip because it gave me the opportunity to record and stare at the beauty surrounding us. I just love going around the island in the car because it’s like it’s own adventure seeing everything. This trip couldn't get better.

Of course you know my mom and I, and our first task was shopping. We raided this gift shop. They had such wonderful gifts and cute pineapple mementos that we had to pick up for all the loved ones, I even got a souvenir for myself, a cute little surfboard and mom got herself a shirt. We wanted to check out some of the demonstrations they had planned but we kept missing them by a couple minutes, so we went on to the next attraction. 

We did a train tour, which was super cute because we were brought around the planation and on playing over the speakers was descriptions of the fields and farm history. It was quite interesting and nice to be taken around the farm that we didn’t have to aimlessly stroll to see some pineapples. Also, hearing some of the history of the Dole Plantation was cool, like how one of the islands was solely used for the plantation farm, and how Hawaii supplied 85% of the worlds supply of canned pineapple at one point.

The second activity at the planation is a garden tour, but first we wanted to get some food. Mom got some Hawaiian pizza at the restaurant and we split a large container of pineapple. I for sure ate the majority of that pineapple because it was so fresh and sweet. Hands down the best pineapple of my life. So remember that for your next trip to Hawaii, eat as much pineapple as possible.

Lastly, we did the garden tour. I thought it would be super cool like some of the botanical gardens I've visited around the world, but it was simply a paved sidewalk through some plants and it was very small. At least it was quick so that we could do a loop and then call it a day on our plantation adventure because we had been there for most of the afternoon.

The warm weather and the irregular eating, I had a sandwich for lunch at 3pm on the way home from the plantation, was the glue between us and the couch. We spent some time on the patio before the sun set and it was too dark outside to enjoy the ocean. We had a chill rest of our night, Mom and I watched Little Women with the door open so even when we couldn’t see the ocean we could hear it, a nice compromise.