Hawaii - Part 4

Hilo and Vicinity

Steady rain finally stopped during the second week of our visit. One day we took Sophie to a Japanese Garden within Liliuokalani Gardens near downtown Hilo. We saw huge Banyon trees:

The peacefulness of the Japanese Garden was shattered by a noisy string trimmer.

Everything in the park was new and wonderful for little Sophie:

We also explored Richardson Beach Park and spotted some interesting wildlife there. While eating lunch we saw an elusive mongoose darting around on a nearby wall:

Next, we saw two(!) sea turtles grazing along the rocky shore. Only the tops of two shells are visible in the first picture below, one near bottom center, and the other near the girl in white.

Eventually, one of the turtles went out to sea and one stayed feeding among the rocks. Ellen climbed down to get a closer look:

Here is the best result of Ellen's closeup photography:

 Ellen and Sophie watched tiny shrimp in the quiet tidal pool.

On our first rainy trip to the Pana'ewa Rainforest Zoo near Hilo Sophie enjoyed the petting zoo:

One strange member of the zoo was the scary looking feral "attack pig":

The white tiger was also impressive!

In addition to the pig and white tiger the zoo also had an uncaged thesaurus!

We made two trips to the zoo so Sophie and her parents could play on the magnificent playground there. First, Ellen had to try the tilted rotating gadget.

Then Keegan showed Ellen and Sophie how to properly vary the moment of inertia:

Mom and Dad are role models. Now Sophie wants to try too:

Sophie LOVED this playground!

We took a walking tour around soggy downtown Hilo, stopping in many stores along the way. Although it was difficult, we managed to resist the temptation to buy a ridiculous Obama bobble head doll.

I discovered a rock shop along the way and bought a nice specimen of cavansite to add to my rock collection. Cavansite, the blue crystal in the image below, is composed of calcium, silicon, hydrogen, oxygen, and vanadium. Vanadium sounds cool, doesn't it? It's a metal named after the Norse goddess Vanadis and sits next to titanium and chromium on the periodic table.

In one of many clothing shops Ellen had a hard time trying on Hawaiian clothes in the changing room while impish Sophie played hide and seek with the modesty curtain!

The Hawaii blog continues next week with visits to new attractions, both terrestrial and celestial.