12/28 |12/29 | 12/30 | 12/31 | 01/01 | 01/02
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On the last day, the clouds had still not fully cleared, but it was much nicer than the day before. We drove out to the leeward (west) side of Oahu, where there are many fewer people. It's also the one place where the paved road looping around the island is not continuous. Because this area gets less rain, the landscape looks very different. 
 We drove all the way out to the end of the paved road, to a dead coral reef that is now above water (top). We played in some tide pools, where Mike found a tiny hermit crab! 
 
  On the way back we stopped at Kaneana. "Kane" is the Hawaiian creation god, and "ana" means "cave". You can read the plaque by clicking on it; it mentions a "shark man of Kaneana", which I'm pretty sure I remember from an episode of Scooby Doo. 
 Here are a few shots to give some perspective of the size of the enormous cave! 
 The strange texture in the rock in the picture on the left comes from the lava that cools quickly and splits. Then more lava comes in and fills the cracks, but that lava cools much more slowly and thus hardens more, resulting in the texture seen there. Apparently this is also what causes the mountains in Hawaiʻi to form the distinctive ridges, as the harder lava is slower to erode. On the right, Liz is standing in the cave, and some offerings to Kane can be seen lying on the floor. 
 Driving through this part of the island, we got to see what the poorest people on Oahu live like (left) and soon afterward, what some of the richer ones live like (right). I would actually MUCH prefer a tent in the bushes by the ocean to a condo surrounded by fake waterfalls and a golf course right outside my back door. 
 We spent our last few hours getting dinner and hanging out. Here's a shot of a gecko during the day (can you find it?), and Waikiki at night 
And then we flew back to cold, grey New England. The End. 12/28 | 12/29 | 12/30 | 12/31 | 01/01 | 01/02back to photos |