Fruit Break

After hiking the Waipio Valley, we loaded back into our car and headed back south.  We had passed several fruit stands on our what up and decided to stop for some fresh coconut at one.  

We ended up not ordering the coconut but instead an exotic fruit plate.  It was preparred upon order so we had to wait a bit.  We were able to pass the time on swings under the nearby tree!  After a rather tough hike, this was very enjoyable.  

Once our plate was prepared, it did not disappoint.  We actually ate on it for the next several days!  

While we were enjoying our fruit plate, the proprietor asked if we'd like a coconut as well (apparently she had accidently cut one open).  Yes Please!  

 

Waipi'o Valley

 Our first hike on the Big Island was into the Waipi'o Valley!   This valley, also known as the Valley of the Kings is towards the northern end of Hawaii and we drove through ranch country to get there.  The drive was beautiful if frustrating .... Hawaiians love their slow speed limits apparently.  :)  

In preparation for the trip, Wifey packed a 'sack lunch', plenty of water, our camera gear, and some water shoes.  

Upon arrival at the lookout ... Russ saved the day with his parallel parking skills.  Kee would have just had to turn around and go home.   

The lookout includes facilities .... and the folks managing it much be quite wealthy .... this is COVID gold:  

Before we began our hike, we walked over and snapped this view of where we would soon lunch:

The hike down begins on a paved-ish road and then reaches a fork. 

At the fork you turn right to reach the black sand beach at the mouth of the valley and turn left to reach a dead end.  We turned left.  But we were rewarded for this minor error with a stunning view of the waterfall at the end of the valley opposite of the beach!  

We also saw some wild horses in the interior part of the valley.  

Unphoto-ed - we reached a dead end, consulted our map, turned around and eventually found the beach!  

It's blurry, but we're in this.

Koko Head Stairs

 Due to a bit of a GPS mix-up we ended up taking an unplanned route to the Halona Blowhole (more on it later).  Along the way, we glanced some small white dots along a mountain ridge along what appeared to be Wifey to be a power line.  After some quick smart-phone googleing we discovered these white dots were people, and the power line was an abandoned tramway turned into a 'stairway' hike.  

We arrived at the parking facility for the Koko Head Stairs at 5:00 and had to be back down and heading towards the airport by about 7:00 for our 8:30 flight.  Per google, this was a 30-60 minute hike.  

Partway up is a short bridge.  It was a bit nerve wracking, but we made it across.  On the way down, we found an alternate path, however.    

It took us 65 minutes to reach the summit.  

This hike was tough for Wifey.  Hubby was a trooper, pausing when she needed to.  We didn't really take photos on the way up, but the following are a collection from the trip back down.

We just came from right there~~~

This guy was way more impressive than us ... he was carrying a huge beam up the stairs!  

Halona Blowhole Lookout

We went to this lookout and watched a blowhole.  It was pretty.  We took two pics.  The wind was insane.   

And a video! 

 

Dole Plantation

After visiting Pearl Harbor we continued our quick tour of O'ahu by traveling north to the Dole Pineapple Plantation.  Here we took a picture or two, learned how pineapples are grown, and enjoyed some Dole Whip.  Basically pineapple flavored ice cream.  It was YUMMY!  

To get into the gift shop and grille area, each tourist was temperature checked.  Luckily we passed despite the outdoor temperature being about a bazillion degrees.  

After waiting in line, we placed our orders for a Pineapple Float and a Dole Whip on a bed of pineapples!  

Outside the giftshop there were gardens showing different varieties of pineapples.  Pineapples just growing on plants ... all chill like!  

Oh, and gotta take a hula dancer photo :P