Hawaii-One of My Favorite Places

 I love to travel, hence my blog of the fifty states, and I don’t get nearly enough vacation time from work or make enough money to go as much or as many places as I wish.  Hawaii was, and will remain on, my list of places  I will revisit several more times if I have anything to say about it.  As one good friend told me once or twice, “Don’t take this the wrong way but, I don’t see you running out of things to say any time soon.”

I had no volunteers for Hawaii this year-everyone must have been out surfing, sailing, fishing, sitting on the veranda enjoying the view, eating the marvelous food,  taking a quiet walk through the rain forests, watching the dolphins, whales and stingrays,  taking in the amazing aromas of nature that includes sea and sand, flowers and scents of outdoors people don’t regularly enjoy, visiting across the table with people who actually live on Hawaii, jumping in the calm tide pools and swimming to the base of a cliff to let the waterfall pelt against them,  seeing the outdoor markets and just plain sitting and listening to the wonderful and unforgettable sound of the waves rolling in against the shores—oh, fishing and diving and para-sailing and kayaking.   I know that’s what I did for three weeks on my first visit.  It’s not my last trip because I fell in love with those islands and, ever since I got on the airplane to come back to Nebraska, I’ve wanted to fly right back to the tropical paradise.  And then there are many local artist places that promote the talent of those from Hawaii—I picked up some of the great written work from novelists and history buffs from those storefronts.

Here’s a big hint—you can actually go cheap to Hawaii because we did.  We waited for flight sales for times when the airlines wanted us to go, not when we wanted to go and we booked a hotel and condo that wasn’t five star, but it wasn’t bad --we spent about three minutes in the rooms but they were right across the street from beaches.   And, every restaurant and bar has specials on food and drink so we ate cheap—except for that one night when we went to the amazing place recommended by the hotel—well I still remember how great the Poke was.  We spared no expense on some things and traveled the cheap the rest of the time.  If you want to know how we did it, email me and I’ll share. 

So, here are some of those memories to commemorate the beauty I found which far exceeded what I imagined before my way too short visit and to spur your interest in such a lovely place.