Week 11: visit to Dole Plantation

The maze at Dole Plantation, tauted as the largest in the world.

Another weekend, another long day entertaining our resident five year old.  Since we moved to Oahu about 11 weeks ago, LK had been asking to visit the Dole Plantation.  He loves to run through the maze which has  eight locations to find where you rub a small picture onto a card.  Fortunately, they give you a small map.  Thus, it doesn't turn into an all day affair.  Truth is, this time it was pretty hot, and I wanted to get out of the maze as quickly as possible. 

Besides, there are plenty of other fun things to see and do.  The train ride for one.  This was our first time, and we did it after lunch when LK was pretty well tuckered out from running the maze.

It takes you on a short tour of the pineapple fields.  The most striking part of the tour is when you reach the edge of the property beyond which lies pristine Hawaiian wilderness.  Absolutely breathtaking.  Unfortunately I did not think to take a picture...

But before the train ride, we stopped for lunch--which was surprisingly awesome.

Don't let the plastic tray fool you, this teriyaki chicken was the bomb.  Very tender, very subtle.  I hate teriyaki that is sickeningly sweet, and this was just right in balancing smokey with sweet.  And the portion was way more than enough for both LK and me!  Who knew you could find such great stuff in a plantation store cafeteria.  I love when something totally surprises you like that.

For me, the most interesting aspect of our visit was the small garden showcasing various types of pineapple.  The kind we all eat (the kind made popular by Dole) is called the cayenne variety.  Sort of funny if you know anything about peppers, but of course the pineapple and the pepper are in no way related.  Anyway, it turns out there are a number of varieties of the fruit.  I did not have the patience (or rather LK did not have the patience) to write all of their names down, but here are a few I took pictures of growing in the garden.

I am pretty sure the last is the standard cayenne, but if anyone has any idea what the first two are I would really appreciate the info!