Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A vintage-style
steam train
chugs around the plantation, taking visitors for a
20-minute narrated ride. Or you can rent an audio wand and take a self-guided
walking
tour
of the plantation's gardens for an up-close look at pineapple, banana, papaya,
mango, lychee, taro, coffee and cacao plants.
Wahiawa Botanical Gardens
GARDENS
(
522-7064;
www1.honolulu.gov/parks/hbg/wbg.htm
;
1396 California Ave; 9am-4pm, closed
Dec 25 & Jan 1)
While much of Wahiawa is drab bordering on ugly, this botan-
ical garden about a mile east of the Kamehameha Hwy, is a 27-acre oasis. Started in the
1920s as an experiment by sugarcane farmers, it's a mix of the manicured and the wild,
with pruned ornamental plants, a gully of towering tropical hardwoods, green ferns and
bamboo groves. Some walking paths are wheelchair-accessible.
Eating
Maui Mike's
FAST FOOD $
(
http://mauimikes.com
; 96 S Kamehameha Hwy; meals $6-9; 10:30am-8:30pm;
) At this
fast-food joint, it's chicken, chicken or chicken - fire-roasted, free-range, all-natural and
super fresh. Grab some 'lava hot' dipping sauce and Cajun-spiced fries to go.
Sunny Side
LOCAL, DINER $
(1017 Kilani Ave; mains $4-9; 7am-2pm)
The latest renovations at this side-street diner
may have been done a half century ago: think plastic furniture and peeling paint. But all
is forgotten when the homestyle cooking arrives (save room for wickedly delicious pie).
Da Pokeman
SEAFOOD, LOCAL $
(36 N Kamehameha Hwy; meals $7-10; 10:30am-6pm Mon-Sat)
Take your pick of fresh
poke
(kimchi or spicy tuna, anyone?) at this storefront fish market. Keep it Hawaiian with a
pork
laulau
,
lomilomi
salmon or
kalua
pig plate lunch.
Poke Stop
SEAFOOD, LOCAL $$$
(
http://poke-stop.com
;
95-1840 Meheula Pkwy, Miʻilani; meals $8-14; 8am-8:30pm Mon-Sat, to
7pm Sun)
About 4 miles southeast of Wahiawa, this chef-owned grill's fresh
poke
rice
bowls and plate lunches of blackened island fish, tender
kalbi
short ribs and garlic
shrimp feed construction workers and hungry schoolkids. It's in a strip mall behind
McDonald's, just off the H-2 Fwy (exit 5 Miʻilani Mauka). Also in Waipahu (
Click here
)
.
