We headed to our last breakfast buffet this morning, where we loaded up on our usual fruit, eggs, and sides (have I mentioned how AMAZING coconut syrup is??! Every morning my second helping of breakfast is mini waffles with coconut syrup and fruit), enjoyed our view of the ocean, and got ready for today. As we were heading out we met a couple on the elevator who made some joke about if Cara was going surfing today and I said, nope we're doing the Dole Plantation today. When making our plan a couple nights ago we decided today would be the Dole Plantation, Waimea Falls (which I didn't know was here, but I saw a sign for it and decided to look it up and it seemed like an awesome thing to add), and then do some more swimming to help us all sleep tonight.
The Dole Plantation...I mean you HAVE to hit it, right? Everyone tells you to see it once if you visit...and I'll agree, but just once! It is pretty cool to see the different fruit and stuff they grow (I didn't even think about how many things had a dole sticker one it...bananas, limes, lemons, papayas, etc.). We decided to do the train ride and garden tour and everyone said a train was just about to come back so we did that first. It was really cool to see how bananas and pineapple grow, I had no idea. We even saw a cat and some baby warthogs running around (by the way, I've totally developed cat vision while we've been here, I've spotted like 8 so far). The train ride gave lots of information on the plantation and it was pretty cool. The funny thing was they played some music here and there and at the end they said "to buy the soundtrack to this ride visit our gift shop" and I couldn't help but think "who gets a soundtrack to a train ride at the biggest tourist spot ever?", but I guess people do buy it since they do sell it...silly people! After the train ride we walked the garden area....I wasn't too impressed with that part, I think it'd be better to just stick with the train ride, but they had trees with low hanging branches and Cara loved touching them, so that made it worth the money we spent. After that we went to the gift shop, got ourselves both a Dole Whip treat, walked the shops (I ended up buying chocolate covered pineapple) and then headed out. Overall it was cool to visit, but like I said, just the one time. Cara, if you read this in the future, just look at the pictures for this part!
After that we headed to Waimea Falls. I had read you could swim this so we all dressed up in our swimming gear and started that "hike". I don't really feel we can call that a hike since it was completely paved, but that's all I can think to call it...maybe trek is better? It was surrounded by lush botanical gardens and some old houses (like native homes type of thing) on display. It was a beautiful walk. Since we knew it was a trek and we'd be ending at a waterfall Larry mentioned it would be a good idea to hit up a store to grab a quick lunch we could take with us to eat there...kind of a tradition of ours. However, when we got to the falls, I had completely forgotten about the food we brought. Larry saw you needed a life jacket to swim in the lake area so he decided he didn't want to go, but I got Cara and me one so we could try it. Cara didn't mind the water, but didn't like when the life jacket started to go up near her face so we decided just being in the water counted for her and Larry took her so I could swim to the falls. I recorded a video, but I might not post it because half way there I realized I forgot to take my fitbit off and some profanities came spewing out in surprise (I dried it off immediately when I got out and luckily it didn't seem to break it, but I'm not going to be surprised if it starts acting up after today). The water was FREEZING at first, but once you got in to your hips it didn't seem so bad and once I was swimming around in it it felt really good. After I got out I tried to convince Larry to get in, but he reminded me we had food and I remembered I was starving so stopping to eat was a good idea. After lunch Larry was finally convinced and went to get his life jacket. When he stepped in the water he gave me a look like "this is freezing, I thought you said it was warm" so I assured him as he got more in it it warmed up. He did the same thing I did: got in, swam to the falls, touched the rock, and swam back. He told me he never did warm up to the water like me...guess I'm just acclimating to the weather here and I'm just going to have to stay and live here now...haha! The funniest part of this time was as we were walking into the trek we ran into the couple from the elevator and they were like "hey! Weren't you the ones going to Dole?" I guess they were discussing if they should go so I told them it was a nice visit, but if they go only do the train ride because the garden tour would be a let down after this garden! It was so funny running into them though and I've never done that on vacation before, I hardly recognize anyone from the hotel. They said they only recognized us because of Cara and as they approached us I remembered it was them. Such a small world, even when you're away from home!
The below pictures are from the Go Pro (which doesn't seem to like the sun apparently)
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| Best pic of the "trail" I got |
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| UGH the blur...but it's the only one of all of us looking At the camera |
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| Yes...I attempted to take Cara out with me...it didn't Last too long before she whined |
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| Our typical packed lunch with hikes |
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| I did convince Larry to get into the water...he did not like it as Much as I did haha |
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| The one and only time Cara's fallen asleep upright. She was exhausted |
After this we headed to a food truck, Leonard's Malasadas, since I had heard those were to die for a "must do" when on Oahu. Cara slept so well on the ride out, I guess just being in water wears her out. We got in line at the food truck, ordered two with chocolate and two just cinnamon sugar kinds and headed out (it was actually quite the wait for them!). We ate them on the way back to the hotel; they were pretty rich, but a yummy treat still.
Once we got to the hotel we decided to go swimming one last time for a little bit. Cara once again loved the pool and started kicking again. I finally got up the nerve to ride the slide, but it wasn't too much fun. I kind of wish I had taken Cara on it since it was really tame and the pool was only 4 ft deep, but I didn't feel like going again after the first time, plus she was having fun splashing. It started to rain and was getting close to dinner time so we called it quits early to head back to the room.
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| Our view at dinner |
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| We walked halfway out on this little peninsula |
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| I took approximately 1,000,000 pictures to get a decent Sunset with palm trees pic....this was about the best one |
Now that we're back and Cara is in bed I have LOTS of packing to do. We have to leave by 5:15 tomorrow morning so I want to get everything done tonight so I can sleep in as much as possible tomorrow (though the alarm is set for 4:45...ugh!). Wish me luck that this packing gets done AND Cara is just as great of a traveler tomorrow!!
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