July 9th -- Hiking the Waimea Canyon, and Some Little Golden Nuggets I Enjoyed

July 9th was another peaceful, quiet day, the proverbial calm before the storm that would occur on my final day. It began with breakfast at Eggbert's -- I love the name ad I loved the food! Here are some pics:

I love the courtyard setting:

And the crabmeat omelet was scrumptious! Once again, the waitress answered all my dietary questions, letting me know which portion size would likely be sufficient for decent, yet not too large, meal:

Afterwards, I hiked the Canyon Trail in the Waimea Canyon, the largest in the Pacific region, drawing comparisons to the Grand Canyon:

Of course, there are waterfalls galore in the park:

And here I am with the canyon in the background:

Afterwards, I enjoyed tuna -- I had eaten tuna fish, which I never liked, so I assumed I would not like tuna itself. I was wrong! This was the first time I ever at tuna, at The Grove Cafe...:

...with the World's Westernmost Brewpub on site!:

Here is a link to the site:
http://grovecafekauai.com/the-grove-cafe.php

Later, as I waited for my film from my waterproof, disposable camera to be developed -- the film I had used the day before during tubing, I visited the Allerton National Tropical Botanical Garden:



The gardens themselves are gorgeous:

And I was able to pick the fruit!:

Alas, I had to give the fruit away :(. It would not be allowed on the plane, so I gave it to the film developer.

Here is a link to the site:

http://ntbg.org/gardens/allerton.php

I am not much of a plant lover, but I must say, this was a nice little nugget, a good, pleasant experience in my final days in Hawaii.

Another nice nugget was Spouting Horn, right across from the garden. This natural blowhole, in my humble opinion, was much more impressive than Old Faithful, which I saw on a 2003 trip to Yellowstone Park. Here are some pics:

I ended my day with dinner at the Lemongrass Grill:

The interior is pretty with the statues and flowers:

Live entertainment. I told the man it was my 40th birthday celebration, and he dedicated a couple of songs to me, including New York State of Mind, by Bill Joel, to celebrate my home state.

I love the tuna from lunch so much, I had seconds for dinner! :) :

A nice end to a very pleasant day, filled with natural wonders and some little trinkets I hadn't planned on! Sometimes those are the best parts of a trip, and while that may not have been the case on this day, those little trinkets certainly added to the day and the trip as a whole.