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Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple Harvested
Back in November, 2018, we visited Paul & Jude‘s Hole in the Mountain Farm where they grow Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple on the Hawaiian island of Kauai. This variety of pineapple is less acidic and less fibrous than regular pineapples and can be eaten in large quantities without feeling unwell. It also tastes better.
We did the tour that they currently offer weekly. It is fantastic and definitely a must-do activity when on Kauai. They go through the farming process and you get to both eat freshly cut pineapple as well as harvest one and bring it home. We decided to try planting our crown. We weren’t sure if we would be successful as pineapple plants can become relatively large and can’t be left outside during the winter in our local climate. It did grow and now, more than three years later, we finally harvested our pineapple!
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National Arboretum
This afternoon, we headed over to the National Arboretum to take a walk around the dogwood and Asian collections on the east side next to the Anacostia River. It is directly across from the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens where we were yesterday afternoon. Generally speaking we don’t know much about plants other than some are quite nice to look at.
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Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens
We decided to head to the Maryland / DC border to try out a Texas BBQ restaurant. 2Fifty Texas Barbecue was legit – just like the real thing down in Texas! Afterwards, we needed walk around a bit so headed to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens, just a few minutes away on the DC side. Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens is part of the larger Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, a unit of the National Park Service.
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Southwestern Badlands
We only had a few hours this morning before needing to return to Rapid City to catch our flight. We decided to check out the remote southwestern corner of Badlands National Park. There isn’t really anything developed in this region, just a few roads, farms, and wilderness.
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Black Hills of South Dakota, Day 2
We visited the Black Hills again today. Our first stop was Wind Cave National Park where we went on a cave tour. Afterwards, we visited The Mammoth Site to the south before returning north via Custer State Park. The highlight of the day though was seeing an eagle flying away with a prairie dog that it just caught!
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Black Hills of South Dakota
We spent today in the Black Hills south of Rapid City, South Dakota. Our first destination was Mount Rushmore. We spent a few hours there before heading south to Custer State Park where we spent the rest of the day.
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The Badlands and Delta-09
We headed out early to start at Badlands National Park from the west. We were hoping to see some wildlife and were not disappointed, despite the extremely high winds. We worked our way thorough the park, doing all the short hikes and stopping at all the overlooks except the ones visited did two days ago. Afterwards, we drove west to check out the Delta-09 site, part of the Minuteman Missile National Historic Site.
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Devils Tower National Monument
We headed out in the morning to visit Devils Tower National Monument in northwest Wyoming. While it ended up being a cold and rainy day, with lots of fog, we were still able to do two hikes and get some great views of the tower.
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Badlands National Park
After arriving in South Dakota today around noon, we headed out to Badlands National Park. We spent some time enjoying one of the scenic overlooks and two short trails. Beautiful scenery in the “baddest” of the badlands!
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Ellanor C. Lawrence Park
We visited Ellanor C. Lawrence Park in Virginia today between lunch and dinner, mostly to walk around a bit to be able to eat more! This small park is between Centreville and Chantilly, a few miles south of Dulles, and owned by Fairfax County. It is a nice place for a walk with trails through a forested area nestled between a highway and smaller road. We planned on doing a loop but it turned into an out and back when we realized the western half of the trail was through partially swampy unmowed grass! We were rewarded for our efforts though as we spotted a species of bird that we’ve never seen before, the Eastern Towhee!
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Here and there but not quite everywhere!