Day 25 – Of Kings and Queens and Stately Trees

We rarely know the night before what the following day will bring.  Who knew we would spend the day visiting Hawaiian Royalty and towering trees?

We started the day first though with driving Tantalus Drive or Round Top Drive.  What a curvy road with stunning lookouts along the way.

After the drive down we made our way over to the Royal Mausoleum.  This is where a few Hawaiian Royalty and historic figures have their final resting place.  We couldn’t enter the crypt, but the grounds were beautiful to walk around and pay our respects.

On the grounds was a giant “sausage” tree.  This is a tree native to Africa.

This is the sausage fruit that hangs from it.

Be very careful when entering or exiting the grounds in a high clearance vehicle.  You can see where cars have scraped the lower branches of this tree that guards the grounds.

Our next stop was to visit King Kamehameha III’s summer home, Kaniakapupu.  This was a bit of a search to find.  It is not well known or visited.  It is one of the historic Heiau sites also.

We parked alongside the Nu’uanu Pali Drive and had to look for an opening in a bamboo forest.You will know you are in the right area if you see this tree.

Walk about 100-300 yards in the bamboo forest.

Take the second left and follow the trail for a few more hundred yards and viola you have arrived.

Please don’t do what we witnessed one tourist do.  He climbed up on the top of a wall  and attempted a handstand.  All I thought was that man is going to have bad juju for the rest of his life.

We wandered the grounds, history says at one time there was a luau held here with 10,000 people in attendance.

As we were close to Foster Botanical Garden, we decided we had to stop.  While that was after making sure we had the $10.00 to get in.  We keep forgetting to stop at the bank, so it was search the car time for loose dollar bills.

Foster has some of the largest trees, just so stately.  The signage was outstanding at this garden.

My favorite sign of the day:

Yes that is correct, cannonballs.  There is a tree that drops cannonballs.

After the impressive trees, the orchids captured our attention.  A few varieties we have not seen before.

We were both very hungry and once again Yelp came to our rescue.  Half a mile away was a little French and Asian fusion Bistro, HASR Bistro.  A full business lunch crowd was lunching, it must be good.  We each had one of the fish specials, delicious.  Mike even ordered dessert, a creme brûlée.

After lunch I ducked into the HASR Wine Store.  If you are looking for that perfect bottle of wine, this is the place to stop.  The owner is very knowledgeable.

We arrived home with the entire day already gone.  Spending time with the Hawaiian Royalty and some towering trees made the day fly by.  Another grand day on the island.