James Dole, of Dole Pineapple fame, came to the islands in 1900 and began planting pineapples in the islands. In fact, he bought the entire island of Lana’i just to grow pineapples since the fruit loved the warm days and cool nights of the islands. Although pineapple is not the cash crop it used to be for the islands, you can still visit a working pineapple plantation and see just how pineapple is cultivated.  On Hwy 99, just north of Hwy 80 and Wahiawa town, you will find the Dole Pineapple Plantation. Here you can see how pineapple is grown, tour the fields on a tram and enjoy specialties like fresh pineapple, pineapple ice cream or frozen chocolate covered bananas on a stick. There is a 100,000 square foot hedge maze that you can wander through if you like that sort of thing and a gift shop where you can have fresh pineapples sent home while you continue on your island vacation.  It’s touristy but fun none the less.