Aiea Loop

Back in April Ken and I hiked Aiea Loop.

I think that this was Ken and my first serious hike here in Oahu. 

Through the woods, some up and down, and some obligatory mud.

Little did we know that this would be small potatoes compared to our more recent hikes.

I can't wait to blog about them!

It starts out in Keaiwa Heiau Park, high above the city of Aiea.

We thought 4 and a half miles would be a pretty good hike- yes we were tired!

The trail was beautiful. There were some really scenic lookouts.

We felt right at home with all the pine trees.

Who knew Hawaii had pine!

 My favorite view was of the H3, the Freeway that cuts across Oahu, East and West.

A little creek bed climbing.

Overlooking Pearl harbor.

Such a beautiful hike- I'm sure we'll do it again!

Waikiki Aquarium

My last post from when Gabby came to visit is when we went to Waikiki Aquarium.

It's not a huge place but it is filled with beautiful ocean life.

The jellyfish were my favorite!

Look at these cute little sea horses.

Of course this guy stole the show :) 

Just try to grasp the enormity of this Banyan tree!

It let's down vines that take root and become trunks- so cool!

Botanical Gardens of Oahu

Oahu has several botanical gardens scattered all across the island. Most are free, so Gabby and I made a point of visiting 4 of them during her visit in February. 

The first was inside the Koko Head Crater and was very dry and rocky.

This is the ridge of the crater, it's much higher than it looks in this picture.

 This garden had groves of Plumeria Trees but they weren't in bloom.

 Next, we visited a Foster Botanical Garden right in downtown Honolulu. 

This was the smallest but packed with beauty.

We could call it- the Large tree garden!

There was a greenhouse with gorgeous blooms

We managed to kidnap Ken one afternoon and took him to 

Wahiawa Botanical Garden

This was my favorite!

It's okay Ken, we'll let you go home after this one!

Amazing rainbow eucalyptus tree

More very large trees!

Ken's artistic presentation of leaves

These Banyan Trees are all over Oahu. 

The vines come off the tree and root in the ground creating multiple trunks on one tree.

Gabby was having a good time :) 

This place was sprawling- I'm sure we didn't see it all

Our last botanical garden adventure was 

The Waimea Falls Park Gardens

This one was the only one with an admission price. 

I've blogged about it before. If you're interested click on the underlined title to read that post.