Big Island Hawaii, cont.

Our next stop was the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Factory. As you drove in you saw the groves of trees and there were signs that talked about how good Macadamia Nuts are for you. The tour was self-guided and you just looked down through a window at the factory. There were videos that talked about what they were doing going on. The workers removed a lot of chocolates that weren't perfect enough to go in the boxes. I would probably make myself sick the first day working there if they gave me permission to eat the non-perfect ones. I loved the samples and Kalea didn't want to stop eating them. Unfortunately later on my stomach wasn't happy I had eaten the chocolate. It turns out I am allergic to chocolate (or rather I was.). My mom treated me later on the boat for chocolate so now hopefully I will not have a stomachache when I eat it. The tour wasn't as impressive as the one at Sweets Candy but we still enjoyed the visit.We decided since there was still time before we had to be back on the ship that we would go to the Botanical Gardens we had passed on our scenic route earlier that day. That was the most beautiful place we went to in Hawaii. My Mom and Dad decided they didn't want to go in so they stayed out with Kalea and the rest of us went in. My Dad was tired and there was a huge hill you had to walk down and then back up and all the walking around it. The only thing we didn't enjoy about the gardens were the mosquitos. Kiani and I got eaten alive. Dalek got a few and Dallin didn't get any. I wished we had packed bug spray since the next few days we were itching like crazy. There were so many amazing plants and flowers and we read about a Hawaiian legend. The picture above with the two rocks sticking out of the ocean are said to be two lovers who had gone out to protect the island from invaders and in the morning the villagers found the two rocks but the lovers were gone.
Other then the pictures of me, these are very beautiful.
After the gardens, we returned our rental car and got back to the ship with plenty of time to spare. We didn't get to see the side of the island that my Dad served his mission on and that was too bad but we did enjoy parts of the island that we saw.