Hawaii: Part 11 (Pineapples & Plumeria)

As you can tell from all my other posts, when it comes to vacations Antoine and I tend not be the most touristy of tourists.  And that was especially the case when we went to Hawaii.  We didn't go to the beaches and lay out in the sun for hours.  We didn't go surfing, snorkling, or anything like that.  We didn't go to a luau or the Polynesian Cultural Center (because it's run by Mormons...nothing against Mormons, but that just took away all the authenticity for me).  Instead, we went hiking, went to botanical gardens, and did the non-touristy things we typically enjoy when we go on vacation...with the exception of three things.  We did get tiki drinks in Honolulu before heading home, we did visit Pearl Harbor (I'll cover that in my last Hawaii post), and we did go to the Dole Plantation.  Really, the Dole Plantation was THE most touristy thing we did on our entire trip, at least in my book!  But we knew that is was going to be...and really, we were mainly going for the dole whip!

Here's the thing about Dole, the main stuff is free...the gift shop, cafe, and pineapple garden.  Where they get you is with all the other stuff...train ride, pineapple maze, etc.  None of which we did, so our trip was free...well, except for the stuff we bought in the gift shop (which is horrendously overpriced) and the delicious, delicious pineapple soft serve!

Antoine showing off his hula and his uni-boob!

Pineapples everywhere!

We were totally in awe of these trees, which were all over the property...I mean, look at them!  They're so pretty!

After we checked out Dole, we walked next door to a smaller, more quaint pineapple plantation which was completely free and had gardens filled with kitschy stuff like this...

I made him pose and then he made me.  Is this married life?!

...and foo dogs...

...and roses

...and a giant pineapple, of course!

On our last day in Hawaii, before heading to Honolulu, we stopped at this pull-off for a bit to take in the view of the windward coast one last time...

Then we headed over to Koko Crater Botanical Garden, another one of Hawaii's beautiful, free gardens/parks.  We didn't stay too long since we hadn't had breakfast yet or put on enough sunscreen...but that didn't stop me from taking a ton of flower pictures...

Did I mention that Koko Crater has an entire grove of plumerias?!  It smells amazing!

I think this might be one of my favorites!

Alright, one more post to go!  It's the final stretch, you're almost there!  Stay tuned tomorrow!  Then instead of Hawaii posts it'll go back to the usual: flowers, bees, and maybe some pictures of a certain basset hound named Cheese.