"This is the Hawaii People Should See When They Come Here" part II

Welcome back!  If you missed part one of "This is the Hawaii People Should See When They Come Here" you're just going to have to scroll down to my previous post because I am writing all of these ahead of time, and as of the writing of this post, that post hasn't published yet, and I don't know how to set up a link to a post that hasn't published yet.  Sorry. As promised, though, here are some more sights from Waimea Valley.

On the way back down the trail from the waterfall, we passed a whole wall o' vines, covered in these cool flowers.

The perspective in this picture is misleading-my dad's hand is actually in the background, not being dwarfed by this jade vine!    

I can't even explain what an unusual color this is.  It's represented pretty accurately here, but to see it up against all the other greens surrounding it is surreal.  Before we discovered the vine in the tree, I had seen some petals on the ground, and I thought they were from somebody's lei, somebody's totally unrealistic, artificially-colored lei.

This still doesn't give you a really good idea of the colors, but I like the way it kind of looks like an upside-down peacock.  

See what I mean?  

Okay, the amount of time I just spent trying to decide which upside-down peacock looks the most like a jade vine and a palm frond indicates that it is time for me to go to bed.

Even if you love the sandy beaches and high-end shopping in Waikiki, I hope this has convinced you to carve out some time to visit Waimea Valley on your next visit to Oahu.  I can't guarantee you'll find a matching peacock-and-jade-vine set, but it's worth a shot!

Remember, I'm still traveling, but that doesn't mean I won't be super excited to read your comments when I get back!