Hint: it’s not just beautiful beaches.
True, the first image that comes to mind when you think about Hawaii is usually one of crashing surf, soft sand and shockingly blue water in every direction. But if such things were all Hawaii had to offer most of us could find perfectly serviceable alternatives closer to home.
Hawaii may be many things, but conveniently located is not one of them. It’s a least a 2,000 mile trip from just about anywhere on earth. What is it that keeps drawing us back to this remote location in the middle of the Pacific?
One answer is that just a few miles from those iconic beaches you find things like Waimea Canyon. Every Hawaiian island we’ve visited has something uniquely remarkable about it. For Kauai, it’s the Grand Canyon of the Pacific. This 3,000 foot deep crevasse carved into the western side of Kauai is so vast it’s impossible to believe it even exists on an island. It’s just too big. For a long while we felt like we weren’t on Hawaii at all but somewhere in the desert southwest.
And then, just a few hours later, we were sipping Mai Tais beneath palm trees on one of those beautiful beaches remarking how completely awesome Hawaii is and how glad we were to be back.
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