by John Bryant

Created on: July 10, 2008   Last Updated: April 18, 2011

My wife and I were recently able to revisit a tropical paradise in Hawaii, a place we were fortunate to live for many years. A place where one keeps a swimsuit, beachmat, suntan lotion, and sandals nearby. Where men's ties are an unnecessary extravagance and guests leave their shoes at their hosts' front door. Where temperatures don't drop below the mid50s at their coldest nor exceed the mid90s at their hottest. Hawaii is our fiftieth state, of course, but many Americans have still these missed gorgeous, lush volcanic islands lying in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a four hours flight from Los Angeles.

As our plane approached Honolulu International Airport on the island of Oahu, I noticed one thing hadn't changed since our last visit. First time visitors to the islands still crane their necks in every way possible to peer through the plane's windows as it begins its approach, trying to see many of the sites about which they've heard and now will visit: Diamondhead, Waikiki, Aloha Tower, Pearl Harbor. They are like little kids going to a candy store! Secondly, departing the terminal, one is still overwhelmed by the warm, moist air and the wonderful smells of tropical flowers, plumeria, anthyrium, and pikaka.

Waikiki is the most famous beach in the world and the focal point for most of Hawaii's visitors. Remarkably, it's a manmade beach of about 1 1/2 miles length made from sand dredged a century ago to clear the nearby Ala Wai canal. Despite its humble origins, it is now a gorgeous white sand beach filled with visitors from around the world, grandmothers from the Midwest and South, and barely clad young women from America, Japan, Europe, Australia, or New Zealand. Although the surf is mild in comparison to other places on the island, it still attracts young guys, too, trying to show off for some of those young women on the beach! Those who want to do more than swim in the warm waters can rent surfboards, boogie boards, and snorkeling gear along the beach and even sign up for classes in these sports.

Tired beachgoers usually return in the afternoon to one of the many excellent and sometimes famous hotels which line the beach, e.g., the Ala Moana and Royal Hawaiian hotels built more than a hundred years ago. These venerable old hotels are still luxury class but they are now surrounded by modern, high rise hotels from all the chains and boasting every service imaginable. A walk through the beautiful, peaceful gardens of either of these hotels is a true pleasure

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