Ho'omaluhia Botanical Gardens

Ho'omaluhia Botanical Garden is 400 acres of rainforest located on the Windward (east) side of Oahu. We went camping there this weekend with a group of friends on what turned out to be a very memorable trip.

There are wonderful camping areas with large covered pavilions, clean bathrooms, and showers (but no hot water). There are electrical outlets under the pavilions but they will tell you they don't work, which is a lie. They just turn off the power to them so you don't cost them any extra money in electricity.

The view is stunning. Ho'omaluhia, which means "to make a place of peace and tranquility", is located in the foothills of the Ko'olau Mountain Range. The gardens were actually created by the US Army Corp of Engineers to provide flood protection for the town of Kaneohe. See? The Army does all kind of great things that you don't know about!

The area is divided into sections representing different geographical locations around the world. You can hike through areas with plants from the Philippines, Hawaii, Africa, Sri Lanka/India, Polynesia, Melanesia, Malaysia, and Tropical America.

There is a 32-acre lake which is good for fishing (catch and release only), but not swimming.

This is the view when you are fishing. Even if you don't catch anything, it's worth just going to sit and stare at the other side of the lake.

There were ducks and the kids enjoyed throwing bread to them. Seeing these ducks made me realize I haven't seen one single duck in the three years we've lived here. Until now.

This is a beautiful place to go for a relaxing weekend!

Comments

Ben's Feet

Ben went camping with his youth group this weekend. He said it was the best weekend he's had since we've been in Hawaii, and possibly in his entire life. The one negative part was that he stepped on some coral out in the water and cut his feet up pretty good. He swears it was all dead coral - you shouldn't touch live coral, much less walk on it because it damages the coral. No one ever mentions that it also damages your feet. They just tell you not to damage the coral. Also, coral is a living organism . If you step on live coral and a tiny piece breaks off in the cut, it will continue to grow. Did you see the movie Alien ? If some creature incubates in Ben's feet, then breaks out and eats us all one night, I'm going to be quite miffed. (Make sure you read the inscription on his tee shirt in this picture. It's quite appropriate.)

Mammogram

I'm having my annual mammogram today. I always hear about how painful they are, but honestly, I've never thought they are that bad. Not the most comfortable, but not painful either. Every time I have a mammogram, I'm reminded of this story. It won the Erma Bombeck Writing Competition and I still get a kick out of it every time I read it. So I'm posting it here today for your reading pleasure: Erma Bombeck Writing Competition 1st place in Humor Category Winner Leigh Anne Jasheway of Eugene, Oregon "The First Time's Always the Worst" The first mammogram is the worst. Especially when the machine catches on fire. That's what happened to me. The technician, Gail, positioned me exactly as she wanted me (think a really complicated game of Twister - right hand on the blue, left shoulder on the yellow, right breast as far away as humanly possible from the rest of your body). Then she clamped the machine down so tight, I think my breast actually turned inside o...

A Week After Surgery

Katie went back to the surgeon yesterday to have her foot checked. It was the first time we saw the stitches. When we saw her after surgery, her foot was already wrapped up in three inches of gauze and it's been wrapped like that ever since. The doctor decided that the sutures were not quite ready to be removed. There are stitches in the side of her foot where they inserted one of the screws. The surgeon told us that she has to be very, very, very careful not to put her foot on the ground. Any pressure at all could cause the screws to shift or break and that would be very, very, very bad. They knew we were going out of town for the wedding this weekend. In order to protect her foot as much as possible, she was put in a hard cast. It will come back off on Monday so they can check the sutures again. This cast has a very limited time to be signed! Katie may not get to have a lot of people sign her cast but she currentl...

Mama On The Move

Search This Blog