Introducing... Elizabeth

The beach just kept calling to me today... so much so that I finally had to answer. So I've hired a guest blogger to fill in and give you her take on what she's seen most recently...

Ladies and gentlemen.... introducing Elizabeth.... someone who has FINALLY given in and endorsed my blog. And now feels like she has the right to call it her own as well.

Mommy told me to introduce myself as today’s guest blogger…

Okay, “guest blogger” it is. Is “blogger” even a word?

Well, we were on our way. We had checked out of the Turtle Bay Resort on Oahu’s North Shore and we had begun the drive to the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Honolulu. With reservations made and lunch eaten, Mommy decided that we would stop to sightsee at Waimea Valley Arboretum and Botanical Garden. A garden? Really? I’m 17! I’m interested in things like cell phones, beaches, and boys with blue eyes.

Now apparently Mommy’s motive behind visiting Waimea Valley (pronounced why-MAY-uh) was nostalgia. She claims to have visited this Oahu greenery at 15 years old on her first visit to Hawaii. There was all the evidence I needed that I was going to have the time of my life… NOT.

But as we pulled into the parking lot, I was told that I would enjoy myself, so in we walked. Well, not really. Daddy stumbled up the wheelchair ramp (heaven forbid he use his wheelchair and actually make things easy on us) and I lagged behind as teenagers do. And we didn’t even go indoors, seeing as how there was no indoors. It was one of those outdoor gardens.

As I recall, each visitor had three options. One, shop at the closet-sized gift shop that sold such highly valued merchandise as a tree shaped keychain and a souvenir poster of the world famous Waimea Valley Arboretum and Botanical Garden. Two, eat at the Waimea Valley café thing that sold such elegant and appetizing fare as I’lio dogs (?) and organic blue hemp fruit slushes in a refillable souvenir cup (honest, it was on the menu!). Or three, pay $18 per person and walk up and down a path through some green trees and some green grass and some green bushes and most importantly some green plants. And why is the third option the most popular? Definitely the little blue signs that label each carefully planted piece of nature.

So here are the photos of our journey. And while I love my mommy like she was a member of my own family, this 17-year-old simply does not belong in a place where one will pay top dollar for Eucalyptus scented, travel-sized lotion and at the same time, walk right through peacock poop.



As if I was going to do otherwise?



Ooh! My all-time favorite plant! Say that five times fast.



Okay now this plant was definitely worth the $18 a person to see... Heck, I can find this in my own backyard.

Aww darn. Now they tell me...

Sometimes one can only take so much.

Aha! Now there's a plant I recognize. "If you look to your left, folks, you'll see the Palm-atus Tree-atopitus species of tree. This concludes our tour. Thank you for visiting Waimea Valley, we hope you enjoy... plants. Because that's pretty much all we have to offer."

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