On our last day we first went to the National Botanical Gardens on the north side of the road across from Spouting Horn Park. They have two gardens there; the McBryde garden, which is larger but only self-guided, and the Allerton Garden, for which they give guided tours. We chose the Allerton Garden because it was smaller and we wanted to have plenty of time for other activities. Our guide was very entertaining and knowledgeable, having worked there since about 1990. The Allerton Garden was developed by Robert Allerton, the son and heir of the founder of the First National Bank of Chicago who moved to Kauai in the 1930's, and his adopted son, John Gregg. Apparently they were gay lovers and Allerton adopted Gregg as an adult so he could pass on his estate to him. After they died the garden and estate were placed in trust with the National Botanical Gardens.
On the way from the parking lot to where you start the tours were some nice orchids.
There were also a lot of geckos catching the sun on the leaves but they scampered away whenever I tried to get close enough to get a good picture.
To get to the entrance of the Allerton Gardens you take a 3 mile van ride from the visitor center and the last stretch of it is down a road that was once a narrow railroad track for a sugar plantation where you pass by a gorgeous beach and ocean view.
Parts of the grounds were used for the filming of Jurassic Park. For example, the massive roots of these Moreton Fig trees were used in the scene where the velociraptor eggs are found.
There are lots of fountains throughout the garden.
We had lunch at the Beach House Restaurant, just a short distance east from the National Botanical Gardens. The restaurant has fantastic views of the ocean and beach on two sides and the food and service were excellent as well.
After lunch we drove to the west side of the island to drive up Waimea Canyon. Locals say that it was dubbed the Grand Canyon of the Pacific by Mark Twain but apparently that is a myth. See http://hawaii-aloha.com/blog/2011/08/09/busting-a-hawaiian-myth/. It is not nearly as big as the Grand Canyon since it is only 13 miles long and 2 1/2 miles wide with a depth of 2,500 feet; whereas the Grand Canyon is over 270 miles long, 10 miles across and over a mile in depth. However Waimea Canyon is still very striking with green foliage set off against reddish and cream colored rock formations and many waterfalls.
This waterfall we saw on our earlier helicopter ride.
It was in one of the early scenes of the movie Jurassic Park and is now referred to by the helicopter pilots as Jurassic Falls.
For most of the drive up Waimea Canyon Road you look east and inland at the canyon but at the end of the road there is a nice view to the north and west of the Napali coast.
When we took our helicopter ride a couple of days earlier we came over the crest of the ridge to the east (right side of this picture) and then dove down into the valley until we were only about 100 feet over the ocean and then turned north to go along the coast.
We had dinner back at the Grand Hyatt's Tidepool restaurant because we wanted to use the hospitality room they make available for guests after they check out to shower and change clothes before we headed to the airport. Our flight left Kauai for Los Angeles at about 10 p.m. and arrived at LAX at about 5:30 a.m.. Then at about 7:30 we flew from LAX to Minneapolis.
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