Week 13

At Allerton Gardens, we followed the trails to the beach. Sitting next to the beach was this beautiful home that was built by the Allerton family after they purchased the land from Queen Emma.

After eating dinner by the beach, Romney and I made one last excursion with Jill, one of the other conference participants, up to an old train tunnel. We had to climb some old stone steps up the side of the mountain to get to them, but it was close and an easy hike. When the area was used as a sugar plantation, they blasted holes through the hills so the small sugar trains could haul the sugar to the factories. Abandoned for decades with their tracks removed, the Gardens maintains them periodically. A special thanks to Rick Hanna, the librarian who is privileged to live in the home by the beach, for telling us about the tunnels!

Week 12

Allerton Gardens, Kauai
Waterways

This waterfall was at the top of the valley and then we wound our way down through the gardens. Towards the end, just before it emptied into the sea, we took the picture of the river and the horizontal palm tree.

Week 11

Our third day in Kauai we spent all day at the National Tropical Botanical Gardens. We rode a bus up to their research center where they gave us a tour of their rare books and archives. Here are some pictures on our drive up to the research center and of their rare books room made of glass.

Week 10

More photos from Kauai: This was our second day when we visited Grove Farm Museum, an old sugar plantation home, and rode their old steam train that was used to haul sugar in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. (To learn more about the museum, see their site.)