Limahuli Botanical Garden

One afternoon we took a ride over to the Limahuli Botanical Gardens on the north shore of Kauai. When driving on Kauai, there is one main road that goes around most of the island. The break in the road occurs once you reach either side of the Na Pali Coast. Limahuli Garden is close to one end of the road so we first drove all the way until the road literally ends (at Ke'e Beach) then turned around and stopped to check Limahuli out. It was a beautiful native Hawaiian garden that had a 3/4 mile walking trail with little stops along the way where you can learn all about native plants, ancient Hawaiian farming techniques, and legends told by native Hawaiians about the mountains, plants, and ocean. We actually stopped quite a few times to read the little guidebook we got before setting out because Chris (and us too!) found the legends really interesting. Here are just a few pics from our afternoon there...

There is a story that goes along with the second picture in this previous series... Apparently, the native Hawaiians would climb up that dome shaped mountain carrying unlit torches. When they would reach the top, they would light the torches and throw them off and the wind would carry them out to sea where a chief (or kahuna) would be waiting to see which one went the farthest. The person who threw their torch the farthest would be honored. There were many, even more interesting stories and legends like this but what amazed me most (really the whole time we were in Hawaii) was the fact that the native Hawaiians would just climb these ridges and peaks like it was nothing. When you see them and how high they were, you can appreciate what an amazing feat this was!