Capturing the Moment

Entering the Lyon Arboretum   Ever since I discovered the multiple botanical gardens here on Oahu I have been waiting to take my mother. There are so many amazing plants growing here in this tropical climate of Hawaii. You can find wild orchids growing high up in the trees, massive bromeliads, and ferns that make you feel like a dinosaur will jump out of the bushes at any moment. Poison Dart Frog   In the rainforest deep in Manoa valley one of these botanical gardens reigns supreme, its called the Harold S. Lyon Arboretum. We narrowly missed a downpour of rain here but not before seeing a very cute little poison dart frog as well as many interesting plants throughout the garden. We even caught a glimpse of the resident sulphur crested cockatoos high up in the tree tops. Mom amongst the ruins of long lost ruins   Our next stop was also deep in the rainforest. We hiked through a secret trail thru a bamboo forest until we came across the ruins of Kameham...

No visit from mom is complete without a trip to some gardens. Keeping with our theme of exploring new places we ventured upcountry to the small town of Kula, nestled 4000ft up the side of Haleakala volcano.   Here we found the lavender farms where you can find over forty kinds of lavender as well as many other flowers. The views from here are amazing. You overlook the entire valley below from Ma'alaea bay across to Kahului harbor. After walking through the gardens we stopped at the gift shop to try some of their famous lavender tea and lavender scones. I could eat about a million and a half of those scones. But at $3.50 apiece I settled on splitting one with mom. Jackson's chameleon strolling  Our next spot was the botanical gardens. I was hoping to spot a wild Jackson's chameleon and was lucky enough to find one ambling across the top of this wooden fence. This one had three big horns identifying it as a male. These chameleons were introduced here in Maui by a...