Monday, January 9, 2023

We drove south from our Airbnb overlooking the ocean toward Hilo. The Hawaii Tropical Botanical Garden’s slogan is, “A beautiful garden in a valley on the ocean”. A retired couple from California fell in love with the sight, bought it, and then spent years hauling away the junked cars, appliances, and other trash that people had tossed into the valley over the years. They built trails, planted trees and tropical plants, and made it into an extraordinary place. There are over a mile of trails. Glad we stopped to visit.

We had arranged to spend the night at an Airbnb that was perched over a waterfall near the Waipio Valley. As we drove closer I started thinking about dinner. There didn’t seem to be anyplace to eat, and I didn’t want to drive back from dinner in the dark. We found an art gallery and they sold us 2 muffins and two kinds of ice cream. We also had two ripe papayas and a single serving little bottle of wine. Perfect!