Back from Hawaii, Happy 4th of July

Holuakoa Cafe Fish Dinner

Happy Independence Day. We are celebrating by doing nothing -- after our very busy trip to Hawaii. During the trip when we ate out, we often ordered fish. Once I bought some mahi-mahi and cooked it with a little wine and butter in our condo. Very fresh! We've heard that Safeway has the freshest fish because they pay fishermen the best prices, so that's where we shopped for it.

Our last afternoon as we waited for our red-eye flight back to the mainland, we returned to Lava Java for a super fish sandwich. We also tried the fish sandwich and combo plate at an island-style restaurant called Sam Choy's, which has a really spectacular view and uses Asian and island flavors very nicely. Another night we ate at the Kona Brewing Company where there's no view at all, just a really long wait for a table, but where we enjoyed a good fish sandwich, great crabcakes, good beer, and nice pizza.

There were so many other beautiful things, and all fish sandwiches look alike, so I didn't keep photographing them. I'm not in Hawaii any more, so here are just a few that I love thinking about:

At Holuakoa Cafe

At Hawaiian Tropical Botanical Garden, Hilo

Onomea Falls at the Botanical Garden -- everybody posts a photo of the falls!

Onomea Bay from the trail through the Botanical Gardens

The lily pond at the Botanical Gardens