Hawaiian flora & fauna

We had a great opportunity to go to Hawaii. One of my best friends from high school was getting married in Oahu and asked me to be a part of it. Thanks to our mileage plan visa, we had enough miles for me to go for free, and then paid to have Clay come too. Since the wedding was just a week after our anniversary, we stayed a few days extra to celebrate. My mom and dad flew out to watch the girls for us. And my former roommate from Ricks, Angela, was gracious enough to let us stay with her.

On our first full day in Hawaii, we hiked to Waimea Falls. It is a botanical garden with a waterfall at the end that you can swim in.


Peacocks were everywhere in the garden.


Cannonball tree -go figure!


Pineapple.

Don't remember what this one was, but pretty cool looking.

This tree is it's own living garden. Look at all the different plants it plays host to!

Here we are in front of a Banyan tree.

I love the canopy on the Monkeypod trees.

Chickens and roosters run wild everywhere in Hawaii.

Red-crested cardinal.

This was in a tree above me, not sure what it is.

This is called Pineapple Ginger.

A type of Heliconia.

This Shama Thrush had the most beautiful song!

Again, no idea what this is, but pretty cool.

When we got to the falls, we were the only ones there. We swam around for a while, Clay actually swam over to the falls for a while. When we finally got out, hoards of people arrived. I'm glad we were lucky enough to enjoy it by ourselves for a while.

This is the ONLY hibiscus that is NATIVE to Hawaii.

The endangered 'Alae 'Ula or Common Moorhen.

Red Ginger.