Hawaii - Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Gardens

September 12

We had a fun day planned for today. We were set to go to the Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Gardens and I was so excited. Because it only opened at 9am, we could sleep in and have a slow morning. We were coming to the end of our pancake mix for our breakfasts, and although it wasn't the healthiest breakfast option, it was such a vibe to eat a pancake with strawberries and bananas on our patio every morning that it was worth the treat for me. We got ready for the day, getting all our stuff collected and ready to go as we were headed down to the city and wanted to have everything in case we wanted to do anything else in the area. 

We meandered our way there, the drive was lovely, as always it never felt like a waste spending time in the car because the views were spectacular from the road and I loved feeling more acquainted with the island. When we got closer, I was so to see the famous views. It was the most breathtaking landscape as we drove along the entrance road. I begged mom to drive as slow as possible so I could take in and capture the beauty. I wanted to go back every single day to do that drive over because I was that in awe of the view. I'll show you one of my most favorite videos of all time that I got driving in, and I am so happy that I have it to look back on this magical place. We parked near the visitor center, so that we could get our bearings before making our way around the park. It was a hot day, so I was hoping that we would make it through successfully. 

When we got to the visitor center, there was a lei making tutorial, and mom was so excited to finally get her lei. She has been hoping for one since her arrival in the HNL airport. But now we didn't have to miss out it, and even better we got to make our own! Mom was the first to make her lei bracelet. We got some more information from a guide on the best places to check out in the gardens, and then we set off for our first stop, which was just behind the visitor center, with leis on our wrists and smiles on our faces. 

I was excited to see this lake with the mountains in the backdrop. I loved this area and could spend forever exploring it, but with the heat we didn't go very far around the lake, but where we stopped was just as beautiful. We took in the view but there was so much more to see that we got moving.

The sun wore on us after the short walk back, so we chugged water and had a picnic moment with our peanut butter bagels outside the visitor center to refuel before continuing on and seeing the rest of the gardens. I will admit the sun was getting to both mom and I, but, I encouraged us to keep going and because we both were relishing in the absolute beauty of the place, we kept going and charged through the deep heat. I look back and wish we spent more time at the gardens because this was the perfect combo and pleased both of us. We both fell in love with this place.

It was lovely even just sitting and eating there, so I wasn’t too pressed when we took a pause in our sightseeing to have lunch. It was also a nice break to take the time to admire the luscious mountains around us. 

We then hopped back in the car to drive to our next stop, a walk to a nice viewpoint. The afternoon sun was really heating up, we got some photos by the mountains but then wanted to start our journey so that we could get out of the hot sun quickly. I didn’t really look at the map as it was stored away in my bag and my phone was also held up as my hands were full with my camera, so I winged navigating us to the viewpoint. We ended up making a wrong turn, following the main path when this viewpoint was a bit off the beaten way. So we walked the trail until we realized that we were no longer going the direction we wanted, to then retrace our steps. We definitely could’ve saved a lot of effort and energy, but it was also nice taking that scenic way and going around more of the gardens.

We got to the nice viewpoint recommended to us and were soon joined by a ranger who chatted with us about the Hawaiian nature. He gave us some more information on the park, the plants, some good nearby hiking trails, and was a nice chat. We gave it a good stare for a while, grateful that mom also was down to soak it in. We made our way back to the car, feeling a bit fatigued as that an hour spent in the full sun. We had just one more stop in us, I’ll even be honest I was getting tired from the dead heat, but there was a simple lookout just up the road a little and we went to check that out.

This was one of my favorite views. And there were tables there. We stayed in the shade, and this sweet older couple offered to take a photo of us and then ended up talking to us about them moving and living in Hawaii! They came to this spot a lot for a picnic and I thought that was the sweetest thing ever. It was something I wanted to do if I were to come back and live here, lunch at this spot and then pack a book for an afternoon in the shade staring at the lush mountains. Sounds like a good life to me. 

We sat there for while, enjoying the view and game planning the rest of our day. With us being in the heat for so long, I thought now would be the perfect time for some shaved ice, so there we went. We headed towards the Kailua area to a cute strip mall area and home to an Island Snow store. We shopped around for a hat and got some shaved ice. Yes, this place was a clothing store with a shaved ice bar, they really have it all on this island. We ate it outside, it was so yummy and nice to cool down, Mom got all the ice cream on the bottom and what I had on top was delicious. We were hungry for an early dinner so Mom got a sandwich from a nearby place, and when I was starting to get hungry as well, I ended up going to Whole Foods to pick up a BLAT and blueberry scones, which mom and I split a scone in the car ride back because the temptation was real! 

We were thinking of potentially going to Kailua beach for the rest of our day, but being so fatigued, when we got there, the lack of parking was enough to convince us to head back to the condo and chill for the rest of the night.

When we got back, I was much more cooled off and I didn’t want the day to pass with us only doing one thing, although it was certainly one of the most lovely because mom and I too were in much agreement about the joys this one provided to the both of us. What I had in mind to cap off the events of the day was to go for an evening ocean swim. 

It was fun too because Mom came with me and actually dunked her head under the water! We swam and swam until she was content. It was refreshing and much needed after our day. And it made me really happy to see mom do something so new, to get into the water and then go under. It was nice. And the view from the ocean is lovely as you can look back to the land to see the mountains. That was essentially the end of our day, some cooking definitely happened along with HIMYM, nothing new but still felt ever so good.