Honolulu – The Kaka’ako Farmers Market, Leʻahi (Diamond Head) Summit Trail, and Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden (Kaneohe)

**** No food in this one. But we did go to a wonderful Farmer's Market and did a couple of hikes walks……

After our rather disappointing dinner at XO, we decided to take a short stroll. The Missus really enjoyed the shops on our previous visits to Kaimuki and we noticed that this shop was open.

It was one of those "zero waste" shops….ok, now we're really talking hipster, right? We had actually visited Origins Grocer when we did our Staycation at the Lafayette, so we were a bit familiar with places like this. 

This place however, had kinds of "stuffs", and the Missus got a couple of things. The service was so friendly.

We'll probably return when we're in the area!

Keep it Simple Honolulu Zero Waste
3466 Waialae Ave.
Honolulu, HI 96816

We then "wen hele" back to the hotel and got back in time to see this lovely sunset.

We got up fairly early the next morning. 

Funny thing, in the comments of my post on XO "Mar", a fellow ex-pat Kama'aina, mentioned the changes to various neighborhoods and made special mention of Kaka'ako. And man, is she right! So many developments! I remember when John Dominis was the fancy place and really stood out off Ahui street. In fact, I got a really funny story about JD's, but I think I'll save that for another day. I had first read about the Kaka'ako Farmers Market on Onolicious Hawaii, Kathy's fabulous blog….so much good info!

Anyway, it was Saturday morning and we didn't have to check out until 11, so we decided to walk on over. Man, so many changes in what used to be the Ward Warehouse/Ward Center area!

Things were just getting started and were pretty mellow when we arrived.

Some interesting booths…..

It was after Lunar New Year, so there was the "mini" Dragon thing going on…..

And of course, there were the pooches!

This one really cracked me up….

This is a literal definition of "doggy bag", right?

The Missus was intrigued with the bowls at this stand.

We ended up buying two wooden bowls. The woman running the stand was so enthusiastic and spent a good amount of time going over the curing and maintenance of the bowls. She even gave us paper instructions. 

Unfortunately, we really didn't find anything we wanted to eat. So, we headed on back to the hotel.

Still, we had a fun time.

Kaka'ako Farmers Market
919 Ala Moana Blvd.
Honolulu, HI 96814
Saturdays 8am – 12pm

We walked on back to the hotel, stopping to pick up some coffee. After checking out, we got some stuffs to eat from Foodland Farms….we had a cooler which came in handy.

And then we headed to our next stop before driving back to Ewa Beach. Among all the places the Missus wanted to check out, the Diamond Head Summit was one of them. Like I mentioned in my posts on visiting Dole Plantation and doing the Makapu'u Lighthouse trail, these are places I hadn't been to in over a quarter of a century at least. In fact, the last time I did DHC was maybe more like over 30 years ago? Back in those days you didn't have to make reservations nor pay to visit. These days you do. Anyway, we arrived at the assigned time.

Of course the Missus thought of this as being a mere walk. All I could recall about my previous visits were the stairs……

Which weren't too bad. And of course the views are quite nice.

It was a lovely clear day.

After descending back into the crater we had a nice, light picnic lunch. Then headed on back to Ewa Beach…except….the Missus still wanted to do "something". As we headed past Moanalua I had an idea. There was a place I hadn't been to since the mid-80's. Some good friends took me there, just to check it out. Now, like 40 years later, I was interested to see how things were. So we drove up H-3, then over to Kam Highway, turning on Luluku Road. The Missus was wondering what the heck we were doing in what seemed to be a residential neighborhood. Eventually, the road becomes the access road to Hoʻomaluhia Botanical Garden, established in 1982.

There was ample parking and heck, I don't even remember there being a visitors center here when I last visited?

We enjoyed the displays and stories.

Especially this. And no, it's not what just entered your mind……

It's the seed of the Coco de Mer!

We decided to take one of the loop walks, which was fun and interesting.

The gardens have specific areas with different regions represented.

And the views of the Ko'olau is wonderful.

If I recall, the gardens sprouted (pun intended) from a project of the Army Corps of Engineers. To prevent flooding a dam was built and the gardens were created surrounding the reservoir. Which is named Loko Waimaluhia ("Lake of Tranquil Waters"). This is my favorite part of the gardens.

It is indeed quite tranquil. We were pretty much the only folks in the place. Well, except for the ducks who ran the place.

While this might not be a destination if you're just on Oahu for a couple of days unless you're a plant lover. If you want some relaxing views of the Ko'olau Range, this might be the place for you!

Plus, admission is free!

Ho’omaluhia Botanical Garden
45-680 Luluku Rd.
Kaneohe, HI 96744
Open Daily (Except for major holidays)
9am – 4pm

After our nice relaxing walk, it was time to head back to Ewa Beach!

Thanks for stopping by!