Day 9, Saturday, February 16; Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden, Byodo-In Temple and heading home
In the late morning when it seemed the rain was stopping for a while, we drove to the nearby botanical garden which was constructed in conjunction with a flood-prevention reservoir after devastating floods in the 1960s that destroyed many homes and killed 2 people. There is a small but interesting visitor center that describes some of the native trees and shrubs.
There are 4 different section of the garden with vegetation native to South America, Hawaii, Africa and Polynesia. A cement path leads from the visitor center through the South American vegetation which is well-marked. At the Hawaiian section, there was no path and the ground was very soggy, muddy and slippery from the recent rain which left our shoes caked in mud. It was surprising that the Hawaiian plants were not around the visitor center.
We then went to a Buddhist temple nearby that was constructed at the edge of a large cemetery in the 1960s. It is a replica of a famous 900 year-old temple in Japan and has a large bell that visitors can ring - ringing the bell at Japanese temples was generally prohibited when we lived in Japan. The temple and grounds are beautiful as you can see in the photo below.
On the way back we had lunch at California Pizza in Kailua and bought "poke" (seasoned chunks of raw fish) at a supermarket to have for dinner.
A little after 8 we said our goodbyes to Betty and Dave and headed to the airport. We wanted to get gas for the rental car before returning it and put an address of a gas station near the airport into the GPS. After a number of wrong turns, we ended up at the sentry booth for a military base and tried again. We got close to the intended gas station only to realize at another sentry booth that it was inside the Hickham Air Force base. Backtracking, we found a sign for "business district" and eventually found a gas station.
The rest of the trip home was uneventful. We arrived early in Phoenix and were able to get breakfast before the last leg of the trip back to Newark. Due to the strong winds in our favor, we got back to Newark almost an hour early, got our luggage, the shuttle to the valet parking and were home by 6:30.
Our driveway had been plowed when it snowed during the week. Our friends Brian and Geri had shoveled a path from our driveway that was very welcome. Our neighbor Steve had turned up our heat so it was comfortable in the house. We made a fire in the wood stove in the family room and soon the whole house was warm.
There are 4 different section of the garden with vegetation native to South America, Hawaii, Africa and Polynesia. A cement path leads from the visitor center through the South American vegetation which is well-marked. At the Hawaiian section, there was no path and the ground was very soggy, muddy and slippery from the recent rain which left our shoes caked in mud. It was surprising that the Hawaiian plants were not around the visitor center.
We then went to a Buddhist temple nearby that was constructed at the edge of a large cemetery in the 1960s. It is a replica of a famous 900 year-old temple in Japan and has a large bell that visitors can ring - ringing the bell at Japanese temples was generally prohibited when we lived in Japan. The temple and grounds are beautiful as you can see in the photo below.
On the way back we had lunch at California Pizza in Kailua and bought "poke" (seasoned chunks of raw fish) at a supermarket to have for dinner.
A little after 8 we said our goodbyes to Betty and Dave and headed to the airport. We wanted to get gas for the rental car before returning it and put an address of a gas station near the airport into the GPS. After a number of wrong turns, we ended up at the sentry booth for a military base and tried again. We got close to the intended gas station only to realize at another sentry booth that it was inside the Hickham Air Force base. Backtracking, we found a sign for "business district" and eventually found a gas station.
The rest of the trip home was uneventful. We arrived early in Phoenix and were able to get breakfast before the last leg of the trip back to Newark. Due to the strong winds in our favor, we got back to Newark almost an hour early, got our luggage, the shuttle to the valet parking and were home by 6:30.
Our driveway had been plowed when it snowed during the week. Our friends Brian and Geri had shoveled a path from our driveway that was very welcome. Our neighbor Steve had turned up our heat so it was comfortable in the house. We made a fire in the wood stove in the family room and soon the whole house was warm.
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| Fruit of Hala tree at botanical garden |
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