Final Full Day in Hawaii

Following the not-so-good weather day yesterday, we had some improvement today. It started a little late as a result of waiting until we could check-in for our flights tomorrow. 

So, at around 11am, we headed out for our first planned activity of the day - The Diamond Head Road drive. Initially, we considered the hike that would have taken us into the crater itself, but after reading the descriptions, it sounded like something that was too strenuous for us. There were lots of steps and uneven terrain along with a very tight tunnel that would have (possibly) created a claustrophobic situation that is not for me. There was a nice pull-out area on the road where we stopped to take some photos:

These first two are of the shoreline:

There was a large display of small international flags along the parking area that looked like flags from countries on each continent - a nice touch:

This is a tunnel that (I believe) actually takes you through the side of the volcano wall. I don't know where it ends, but there was a fee to drive through the thing:

At any rate, there were multi-million dollar homes lining the shore along this entire drive. They all were well gated and hidden from the the public view.

Our next stop for the day was a surprise trip I planned for Josie's benefit - the Foster Botanical Garden in Honolulu. What a great place to visit. It was a perfect stop for us to end our anniversary trip. This is one of 5 Botanical Gardens on Oahu and very convenient to our condo. We took lots of photos of some of the most unbelievable trees and plants from all over the world. It is places like this that make you appreciate the Hawaiian Islands and their ability to grow and care for plants from all over the world.

Below are some photos I took while touring theses gardens. Josie took a lot more.

I have descriptions for each of these unusual and beautiful trees which are only a small portion of the total that were represented in these gardens. Needless to say, it was diamond in the rough for Honolulu and a place where neither of us had ever visited previously and, in fact, not even heard of before. 

We made one more trip to a place called Lyon Arboretum which was also in Honolulu, but we arrived too late as it was closing at 3:30 PM and our arrival was at 3 PM. It was OK though, as we had a terrific ending to our anniversary trip at the Botanical Gardens.

We now begin the packing for our return trip and we plan to leave here at around 8 AM to allow for traffic to the car return and then the airport.

See you tomorrow from Sun City, AZ - well, maybe on Friday AM - as our flight is rather late to arrive in Phoenix tomorrow...