Also see Specific Destinations, Travel and Location Humor.

Page Toppers

• Drowsy Waters
• Fair Hawaii
• Have a Maui Christmas
• Hawaii Five-O
• Hawaiian Breezes
• Hawaiian Dreams
• Hello, Aloha
• Honolulu Rendezvous
• In Honolulu Town
• My Bird of Paradise
• My Hawaiian Sunshine
• My Isle of Golden Dreams
• On Honolulu Bay
• On the Beach at Waikiki
• Sweet Hawaiian Moonlight

Quotes

• Hawaii is not a state of mind, but a state of grace. (Paul Theroux)
• Hawaii vacationers are here today, gone to Maui.
• A lei given sings of special relationships, deep feelings and emotions. A necklace of flowers that vibrate welcome, a precious thank you, and a magical gift from the heart.
• Some people say Hawaii is spoiled, but I don't think so. It's modern. It's a part of today's world. (James MacArthur)
• We landed at Kailua, a little collection of native grass houses reposing under tall coconut trees--the sleepiest, quietest, Sundayest looking place you can imagine. (Mark Twain)

Hawaii Symbols

• Nicknames: Aloha State; Paradise of the Pacific; Pineapple State; The Youngest state
• Slogan: The Islands of Aloha
• Motto: The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness
• Island Colors: Hawaii: red; Maui: pink; Oahu: yellow; Kauai: purple; Molokai: green; Lanai: orange; Niihau: white; Kahoolawe: gray
• Song: Hawaii Ponoi (translated as "Hawaii's Own", words by Kalakaua, music by Henri Berger)
• Dance: Hula
• Marine Mammal: Humpback Whale
• Bird: Nene (Hawaiian Goose)
• Fish: Rectangular Trigger Fish
• Tree: Kukui Tree (Candlenut Tree)
• Flower: Native Yellow Hibiscus
• Island Flowers: Hawaii: Lehua Ohia; Maui: Lokelani (Pink Cottage Rose); Oahu: Llima; Kauai: Mokihana (Green Berry); Molokai: White Kukui Blossom; Lanai: Yellow and Orange Air Plant; Niihau: Pupu Shell; Kahoolawe: Hinahina (Beach Heliotrope)
• Sport: Surfing
• Gemstone: Black Coral
• Individual Sport: Surfing
• Team Sport: Outrigger Canoe Paddling

Facts About Hawaii

• Capital: Honolulu
• Residents: Hawaiians
• State Name Origin: possibly from an ancient Polynesian island called Hawaiki
• Admitted to Statehood: 21 Aug 1959
• Order of Admission: 50th state
• Coastline/Shoreline: 750/1,052 miles
• Length: 1,523 miles
• Area: 10,931 square miles
• Size Rank: 43
• Number of Counties: 4
• Streams and Rivers: 3,905 miles
• Geographic Center: near the island of Maui
• Mean Elevation: 3,030 feet
• Highest Point: Mauna Kea, 13,786 feet
• Lowest Point: Pacific coast, sea level
• Official Language: English and Hawaiian (since 1978)
• Agricultural Products: sugarcane, Macadamia nuts, pineapples (one third of the world supply), other food products
• Commercial Products: tourism, printing and publishing, fish, flowers (more orchids than anywhere else in the world)
• Average Annual Rainfall: 23.5 inches
• The wettest place on earth is Mount Waialeale on Kauai (around 460 inches of rain a year)
• Average Winter High Temperature: 75 degrees
• Record Low Temperature: +12 degrees (17 May 1979 Mauna Kea)
• Average Summer High Temperature: 85 degrees
• Record High Temperature: 100 degrees (27 Apr 1931 Pahala)
• More information about Hawaii

Hawaiian Wedding Song

Andy Williams

This is the moment
I've waited for
I can hear my heart singing
Soon bells will be ringing
This is the moment
Of sweet aloha
I will love you longer than forever,
Promise me that you will leave me never.
Here and now dear,
All my love I vow dear,

Promise me that you will leave me never,
I will love you longer than forever
Now that we are one
Clouds won't hide the sun
Blue skies of Hawaii smile
On this our wedding day!
I do, I do
Love you, Love you
With all my heart!

Items of Interest

• Hawaii consists of a chain of 132 islands stretching about 1,600 miles--Hawaii, Maui, Kahoolawe, Molokai, Lanai, Oahu, Kauai, and Niihau are the largest. 75 percent of Hawaii's people live on Oahu.
• The southernmost point of the U.S. is Ka Lae (South Point) on the island of Hawaii.
• Hawaii is the most isolated population center in the world. It is 2,390 miles from California; 3,850 miles from Japan; 4,900 miles from China; and 5,280 miles from the Philippines.
• Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee.
• From east to west Hawaii is the widest state in the United States.
• The Hawaiian Islands are the projecting tops of the biggest mountain range in the world formed by undersea volcanoes that erupted thousands of years ago.
• There are only twelve letters in the Hawaiian alphabet. Vowels: A, E, I, O, U. Consonants: H, K, L, M, N, P, W
• Hawaii has its own time zone (Hawaiian Standard Time) that runs two hours behind Pacific Standard Time.
• There are no racial or ethnic majorities in Hawaii. Caucasians (Haoles) constitute about 34 percent; Japanese-American about 32 percent; Filipino-American about 16 percent and Chinese-American about 5 percent. Most of the population has some mixture of ethnicities.
• Niihau is a privately owned island, with livestock raising as its principal industry. There is very limited access by the public through helicopter landings at uninhabited sites. The island has a population of 230, and is 69 square miles.
• Kauai is the fourth largest of the Hawaiian Islands and contains the Waialua River, one of five navigable river in Hawaii.
• Iolani Palace on Oahu is the only royal palace in the United States.
• The world's largest wind generator is on the island of Oahu. It has two blades 400 feet long on top of a tower twenty stories high.
• The island of Oahu draws more visitors than any other to Hawaii.
• One-third of the state's best surfing beaches are on Oahu.
• Haleakala (Ha-lay-ah-ja-lah) Crater on Maui is the world's largest dormant volcano.
• Kalaaupapa on the island of Molokai was once a leper colony administered by Father Damien.
• The island of Molokai contains the world's highest sea cliffs.
• Lanai is Hawaii's most secluded island. Hulope Bay, a marine preserve, is one of the best diving spots in the world.
• The island of Kahoolaww, an uninhabited area of 45 square miles, was once used for target practice by the U.S. Navy and Air Force. The services are cleaning up unexploded shells but no one is allowed to go ashore without permission.
• The Big Island, Hawaii, is the largest at 4,038 square miles. It is twice the size of all other Hawaiian Islands combined.
• The Parker Ranch near Kamuela is the largest contiguous ranch, in the U.S, with about 480,000 acres of land.
• Kilauea Iki on Hawaii is the world's most active and largest volcano.
• Ka Lae is the southernmost point in the U.S. There is a constant 27 knots per hour wind blowing east to west, 24 hours per day and 365 days per year.
• Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world (measured from its base at the ocean floor).
• Hawaii houses the world's biggest telescope and more scientific observatories in one place than anywhere in the world.

Notable Natives

Some of these were born here, others just lived a while in the state.

• George Ariyoshi - first Japanese-American elected governor
• Salevaa Atisanoe (Konishiki) - sumo wrestler
• Hiram Bingham - missionary (Honolulu)
• Charles R. Bishop - business leader, philanthropist
• Barry Bonds - baseball player
• Tia Carrere (1966- ) - singer, actress (Honolulu)
• Steve Case - founder of AOL
• Samuel N. Castle - missionary
• Amos S. Cooke - missionary, educator
• Father Damien - leper-colony worker
• Sanford Ballard Dole (1844-1926) - public official (Honolulu)
• Jean Erdman - dancer, choreographer
• Sid Fernandez (1962- ) - baseball pitcher (Honolulu)
• Hiram L. Fong (1907- ) - descended from Chinese immigrants, first Asian-American senator
• Don Ho (1930- ) - singer, entertainer (Honolulu)
• Daniel K. Inouye (1924- ) - first U.S. senator from Hawaii, first Japanese American to serve in Congress (Honolulu)
• Duke Paoa Kahanamoku (1890-1968) - Olympic swimmer (Maui)
• Kamehameha - first king of Hawaii (Kohala)
• Kamehameha II, III, IIII, IV and V - kings of Hawaii
• Kaahumanu - queen of Hawaii
• Bette Midler (1945- ) - entertainer, singer, actress (Honolulu)
• Ellison Onizuka - astronaut
• George Parsons Lathrop - journalist, poet
• Liliuokalani - queen, last Hawaiian monarch
• Kawaipuna Prejean - Hawaiian activist
• Keanu Reeves - actor
• Harold Sakata (1920-1982) - actor
• James Shigeta - actor
• Don Stroud - actor
• Chad Rowan Yokozuna - sumo wrestler

The Hawaii State Flag
Hawaii's flag dates back to when it was an independent nation. The eight alternating white, red and blue stripes represent the eight main islands of Hawaii. The British Union Jack in the upper left corner represents Hawaii's historical friendship with Great Britain. It also represents a stylized puela (a triangular standard laying across two crossed spears called an alia) which is a traditional Hawaiian symbol.

You know you are from Hawaii if...

• You measure the water for the rice by the knuckle of your index finger.
• You know which market sells poi on which days.
• You know that Char Sung Hut is closed on Tuesday.
• You can handle shoyu with green mango, li hing mui gummy bears, raw egg on hot rice, and pearl tea with creme crackers.
• Your refrigerator has half-empty jar of mango chutney from the '95 Punahou Carnival.
• The condiments at the table are shoyu, ketchup, chili peppah watah, kimchee, takuwan, Hawaiian salt, slice onion, and pickle onion.
• You go to Maui and bring home potato chips, manju, cream puffs, and guri guri for omiyage.
• The four food groups are starch, Spam, fried food, and fruit punch.
• A balanced meal has three starches: rice, macaroni, and bread.
• They know 101 ways to fix rubber slippers--fifty using tape, fifty using glue, and one using a stick to poke the strap back in.
• You sometimes use your open car door for a dressing room.
• You wear two different color slippers together and don't mind.
• Nice clothes means a T-shirt without puka.
• There are bare feet in most of their elementary school pictures.
• You have a slipper tan.
• Your only suit is a bathing suit.
• You drive barefoot.
• You have at least five Hawaiian bracelets.
• You never, under any circumstances, wear socks with slippers, or an aloha shirt that matches their wife's muumuu.
• You still call the Blaisedell Center the HIC and it's Sandy's, not Sandy Beach.
• You can understand every word Bu Lai'a says and you know what his name means.
• You still chant "Hanaokolele" when a friend or co-worker goofs up.
• You say "Shtraight," "Shtreet," and "Shtress."
• You say "Da Kine" and the other person says "Da Kine" and you both know what is "Da Kine."
• The "Shaka" and the "Stink Eye" are worth a thousand words.
• You're shopping at Epcot Center at Disneyworld and say something to your sister and a complete stranger says, "You're from Hawai'i, aren't you?"
• You feel guilty leaving a get-together without helping clean up.
• The idea of taking something from a heiau is unthinkable.
• You call everyone older than you "Aunty" or "Uncle" and kiss everyone in greeting and farewell.
• You let other cars ahead of you on the freeway and give shaka to everyone who lets them in. (And get mad if someone you let in doesn't say thanks.)
• Your philosophy is "Bumbai."
• You would rather drag out the compressor and fill that leaking tire every morning than have it fixed.
• The only time you honk your horn is once a year during the safety check.
• If a child needs a home, you give him one. She/He becomes "Hanai."
• You can live and let live with a smile in your heart.
• Your male best friend's name is either Wade, Max, Nathan, or Melvin.
• You own two types of slippers: da "good slippas" and da "buss-up/stay home slippas."
• You do not understand the concept of North, South, East, and West, but instead give directions as Mauka, Makai, Diamond Head, Ewa, and uses landmarks instead of street names.
• The first thing you look for in the Sunday paper is the Long's ad.

Songs about Hawaii

• Aloha Oe - Elvis Presley (1961)
• Blue Hawaii - Elvis Presley (1961)
• Hawaii Five-o - The Ventures (1969)
• Hawaii Holiday - Andrew Hardin (2002)
• Hawaii Tattoo - The Waikikis (1965)
• Hawaiian Sunset - Elvis Presley (1961)
• Hawaiian Wedding Song - Julie Rogers (1965)
• Honeymoon in Hawaii - John Taaroa (2008)
• Honolulu Lulu - Jan and Dean (1963)
• Honolulu Moon - The Fontane Sisters (1957)
• Oahu Rose - Hank Snow (1967)
• Rocking Chair in Hawaii - George Harrison (2007)
• Ta Ha Wa Nu Wa (Hawaiian War Chant) - Merry Macs (1939)
• Waikiki Run - The Surfaris (1963)
• White Sandy Beach - Israel Kamakawiwo'ole (2007)