Hawaii Part 9 - June 2011

Yesterday we had a somewhat relaxing day. We spent the morning walking around the very quaint old whaler's' village of Lahaina. It is right on the water and jam packed with tourists and shoppers. We spent some time speaking with the locals; merchants, artists and passersby.

That is one enormous Banyan Tree behind Fran

On the main street (there really is only one!) there is a massive Banyan Tree that takes up an entire city block....until you have seen it, it is impossible to describe. This Banyan Tree was first planted in April, 1873. The tree when imported from India was only 8 feet tall. It now stands over 60 feet high, has 12 major trunks in addition to a huge core. It stretches over a 200-foot area and shades 2/3 of an acre. The Banyan Tree has grown so large by dropping roots from its branches and then these roots become additional trunks over the process of time. It is hard to get a decent picture of the Banyan Tree because it is so huge.  I have attached a copy of a picture that I took yesterday.

We left Lahaina at about 1 PM and towards Kahului, stopping aloing the way at a beach to eat lunch. Just sitting under a palm tree listening to and watching the waves is a most relaxing experience.

 We continued towards Kahului to get my sandals repaired (there is only one shoe repair on the entire island) and then continued to the Tropical Gardens of Maui which is on the way to the Iao Valley which was our ultimate destination. We just fell in love with the tropical gardens...it's really an amazing place. They have a self guided walking tour where you can see many of the tropical plants and flowers that are only found here and in specific tropical locations in the world. Breathtaking...needless to say, I took far too many pictures...some of which can be found in this webalbum: https://picasaweb.google.com/dbwoolf/BestHawaiiFlowerPics?authkey=Gv1sRgCOevruCSodiTgAE#

By the time we left and were headed to the Iao Valley, it had become cloudy, so we headed back for dinner and a movie at the condo and are going back up to the Iao today. We are also going to try to get to the peak of the Haleakala Mountain tonight for sunset...supposedly it is almost as awesome as getting there for sunrise....however to get there for sunrise, you need to be up at 3 AM...and we are on vacation!

Hope all is well...all the best

Fran and David