passport love to travel (I know, who doesn’t?) and I’ve made it my life’s goal to finish the few states in
AND BREATHTAKING YOU’LL NEVER
THE ISLAND IT’OF HAWAII
S BIG, BEAUTIFUL
WANT TO LEAVE by joel martens
the U.S. I’ve missed, very soon. Canada is more than half done and Europe has a decent dent in it. When I said to friends, “I’ve never been to Hawaii.” They would laugh at me and say, “How could you miss that one, it’s so close?” All I can offer, is that the desire was there, I was just occupied by hitting up all the many places on my must-go-to itinerary. I’ve been a busy boy, Hawaii is number 45 on my list of states I’ve either walked on, run across, flown to, biked over or driven through. To say that I was stunned by the Hawaiian experience, is a pretty insipid descriptor. It is near impossible to put into words the lusciousness of the “Big Island” and how unique the landscape truly is. From the moment the plane dropped below the cloud canopy, I was enthralled by what I saw. The jewels that make up the island chain as they float in the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, left me with an odd, otherworldly sensation. Never having been surrounded so completely by water before, even growing up on Lake Superior’s south shore, it was unique. Even on the California coast, one is faced with endless water to the west, but to the east, miles and miles of land, ever present and solid as a preverbal rock. Hawaii on the other hand, offers tiny dots of land in an infinite ocean…It was such a unique frame of reference for me.
courtyard marriott king kamehameha’s kona beach hotel The other point of reference that captivated my attention immediately, especially coming from
the hues of a more arid climate, was the humidity of the Hawaiian air and the luscious colors there. Especially the expansive green hues from the island’s endless vegetation. One rarely gets to see such a verbose display of nature’s bounty, so much of it unique to Hawaii because of its isolation. According to state resources, Hawaii is home to half of the world’s endangered plant species. I highly recommend renting a vehicle while there, because it allows for long, languorous
drives along winding coastal highways, featuring the bluest ocean waters I have ever seen. In fact, if there was a theme to label my experiences on this trip, nature would be it. With all there is to offer, how could it not be? A fact further supported by my first few nights stay at a unique, beautiful gem, hidden on the eastern tip of the island by the name ofKīpuka. About a 45-minute
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RAGE monthly | NOVEMBER 2016
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