Living the Aloha Hi

2018-2-16 Kula Gardens, Stillwell's, and Hookipa beach:

After the rains, we figured the ocean would be too muddied to snorkel. But we had to get out early since housekeeping was coming to do our weekly cleaning at 9 am today. We thought about heading NW to watch the surfers, but it didn't sound like they were getting high waves. So I suggested we go find flowers instead. Decided on Kula Botanical Garden. So across the valley we went.
I don't remember seeing this building painted up to remember missing children 1 1/2 years ago when we were here. I wonder where they went and what this building is?

I love the views of the mountains from the pass.

Before heading up to Kula, we stopped for breakfast---at Zippy's. Great reasonably priced food with great service. This was the view from our table.

After a filling breakfast, we started up the Haleakala to Kula. Love the views from the road.

Heading into Kula Garden.

wisteria?

There is a $10 fee to enter the garden, but I think it's worth it.

Love the way ferns curl up.

The 8 acre Kula Garden was established in 1968 by Warren and Helen McCord as a display garden for Warren's landscape architecture business.

first stop was the koi pond.

lots of colorful koi.

lots of flowers all over the garden.

It had rained earlier and looked like it could again at any time----but it didn't.

more water droplets on the plants.

love the "watercolor" look to these leaves.

Plants are labeled with their botanical name, common name, and country of origin--although I didn't pay much attention to that.

I do better with naming fish.

Warren did an excellent job of landscaping.

such a variety of plants.

lots of proteas

a lawn overlooking the valley

several different kinds and colors of proteas

even some poinsettias

Great place for wedding photos---although I guess if you come to Maui for your wedding you probably want pictures by the ocean.

love the red border on these leaves.

the walkway is very easy to walk on, too.

a protea flower with several different "blooms"?

lots of neat greens, too.

and other flowers.

more proteas

A Jackson Chameleon. There's a cage by the entrance where there's suppose to be one of these guys. Didn't find one in it, but this guy was in the wild near the orchid exhibit.

more flowers.

Lots of beautiful orchids, too.

a weird form of antherium, I presume

the orchid area.

continuing on

more interesting flowers

by the bird sanctuary.

statue along the way

Pretty hibiscus

lots of birds chirping away, too.

and enjoying the ponds. Didn't see the Nenes. Wonder if they still live here?

these reminded me of mountain laurel.

another protea

strange tree.

another gazebo

hydrangea

almost back to the beginning

another side trip

tiki guy

bird of paradise.

papyrus??

the back side of these leaves were red!

looking back on where I just was

on towards the covered bridge

more ferns

looked like a pine tree, but the "cone" looks like a type of protea.

orchid tree---there were lots of these in S. Florida. I loved seeing them almost year around the year we lived there.

back to the entrance building/gift shop.

on the road again---looking back towards the East side--- Kuhului

looking towards the West side

I remembered reading there was a winery upcountry, too, so I pulled up Maui Winery on my phone and we headed that way. Along the way we came across this cute little park, Sun Yat Sen Park.

Dr. Sun Yat-Sen (1866-1925) was a revolutionary in China and a political leader who was often referred to as the father of modern China.

The 'Ulupalakua ranch donated the land for the park in 1989.

It's a small park with a few statues and picnic tables. Great place for a picnic. Even this Monarch thought so.

Wouldn't that be nice!!!???

One more statue and we're back on the road

Made it

I love going to the wineries in Georgia and N. Carolina with my daughter and daughter-in-law. This is the first time I've been to one by myself, sort of. Ken stayed in the car.

I figured since I finally made it there, I ought to try some of the wine. I'm not a wine connoisseur. So I went with the $10 tasting. There's also a $12 one and a $15 one.

Don't know if all their wines are made from pineapples instead of grapes, but the tropicals were. I did like the last 2 wines best---sweeter wines.

the other flights.

Didn't see where the "vineyard" is. So I didn't linger long.

more of their grounds as I was heading back to the car.

nice place! It was pretty busy, too.

Back on the road and heading back towards Kuhului.

pretty landscaping.

the Wall

back in Kuhului, we headed to Stillwell's for a late afternoon snack

They also have a great breakfast and lunch menu, but we were there for the bakery!

reasonably priced and very yummy! This fresh banana pie and lilikoi cheesecake and a chocolate milk were only $11 total.

Then I had the bright idea to head over to Hookipa beach. I'd heard that sea turtles come to the beach there in the late afternoon/evening. We had quite the traffic going through Paia.

Made it there about 4 pm and there were turtles there on the beach!

2 even arrived while we were there.

it would be easy to mistake them for rocks.

This young man seemed to have a job counting them and keeping people away from them

This is also a surfing park. I was surprised how many youngsters were there.

back to checking on the turtles.

wide angle of the area.

more kids heading out to surf. It always amazes me that they can run on the rocks with bare feet.

Looks like a few memorials here, too.

How to enter the water

checking on the turtles again.

checking on the surfers

the waves really weren't large today, but there were a lot of surfers. Even some learning to surf.

heading back through Paia. Love the surf board fence. This is a fraction of it.

We thought about going to Ruby Tuesday for another salad, but decided to just go to Safeway and buy some salad makings and eat at the condo.
Got back to the condo just before sunset, so dinner had to wait. I ran across to Kam 1 again. We were treated to another beautiful sunset.