Hawai'i
Aloha: Trust that anything I say about Hawai'i won't live up to the task. The islands are simply too "big" for the constraints of language--or at least, my facility with it. But here goes:
There's the palm tree-trade winds Hawai'i--the Hawai'i of spectacular pink sunsets and soft bleached sand. There's also the commercial Hawai'i--the high-rise hotels buttressing Waikiki Beach and the tourist shops filled with kukui nut leis. Then there's poor Hawai'i, the Hawai'i struggling to educate its children and find homes for working people unable to afford skyrocketing rents and home prices.
Formed by an abberant hot spot in the earth's crust, this chain of islands has attracted a host of migrants throughout its history: Seeds dropped by wayward birds. Animals and plants brought by Hawai'i's early settlers from the Marquesas. Insects blown in on leaves. Tahitians bent on war. White men bent on theological domination. Chinese and Japanese immigrants hoping for better lives. Tourists hoping for escape. It's this wild convergence of culture and will that make Hawai'i so compelling.
Oh, yeah and then there's stuff like this:
Na Pali Coast on Kauai
8:16:20 AM 
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