There were banyan trees everywhere we went. This is one of the smaller ones. Its auxiliary roots haven't yet claimed a whole acre.

This palm tree was in a botanical garden. It's not native to Hawaii. We never found a botanical garden of native plants.

Our accommodation in Kona promised an "ocean view". See it? We were 1000 feet above sea level, in a hobbyist coffee farm, at the end of a nearly-impassible jeep trail. On the plus side, the ground was littered with ripe avocados. That's a coffee plant in the foreground.

Our inn in Hilo was at the corner of Punahoa and Ponahawai streets. There aren't many letters in the Hawaiian language, and all place names sound pretty much alike. While exploring the Big Island, we might have visited the same town (K-something-P-something-H-something) four or five times. Or maybe they were different towns.

The room in Hilo was equipped with a nearly-full kitchen and a ukulele.

This trail overlooks one of the calderas at Mauna Loa. That's steam in the background. There were also steam vents along the trail, reminding you how hot it is just a few feet below the surface.

In a different, less steamy crater nearby, you can walk right across the lava flow.

We drove about 800 miles on the Big Island, much of it on roads like this one, cutting through lava fields.

In some places, you can drive past signs that say "End of the Road" onto improvised tracks into lava fields, where some off-the-grid survivalists have set up homesteads, and even a few very strange B&Bs. ("Pros: Good stargazing. Cons: No hot water, 8-mile walk to anything.")

The International Market (a shopping mall) in Waikiki features an indoor-outdoor banyan tree and this statue of the great Don Ho.

On our first pass through Honolulu, we stayed near the Ala Moana beach park, where the locals go to swim, play, and sometimes set up tent parties that last for days.

On the way back from the Big Island, we sprang for a night in Waikiki with this ocean view. Waikiki does not have ants, but the sidewalks are thick with tourists.

Our hotel near Ala Moana had a little Japanese garden with a crowded Koi pond. The fish will follow people around, reminding them that there's fish food available at the front desk.