Hawaii
Hawaii has a way of not letting you go.
Maybe it's the air — warm and heavy with flowers before you even leave the airport. Maybe it's the volcanic cliffs dropping straight into the Pacific, or the waterfalls appearing out of nowhere in the middle of a rainforest. Or maybe it's simply the feeling that you have arrived somewhere that exists by its own rules, on its own time, in the middle of the largest ocean on Earth.
Each island is different. Each one pulls you in a different direction. We started with Kauai — the oldest, the wildest, the one they call the Garden Isle. Ten days of emerald cliffs and hidden beaches, canyons that shouldn't exist on a tropical island, and a swamp at 4,000 feet above sea level where hunting dogs appeared from the fog and escorted us back to the car.
We were not prepared for any of it.
This is our collection from Hawaii. It is only just beginning.
Hawaii
Almost Eden: Nā 'Aina Kai Botanical Garden, Kauai
The first thing you notice on Kauai is the air. Warm. Soft. Heavy with the scent of flowers and rain. Nowhere is that more true than Nā 'Aina Kai — a garden that started as one woman's front yard and never stopped growing.
Hawaii
Green Heart of Kauai: Waterfalls, Canyons and an Unexpected Guide
Kauaʻi has a way of changing your plans. We came for waterfalls between beach days. The island had other ideas — pulling us deeper, past a Jurassic Park gate, into a swamp that swallows fog, and toward a canyon that earns every cliché thrown at it.
Hawaii
Emerald Cliffs Above the Pacific: Nā Pali Coast, Kauai
There are places that stay beautiful only in photographs. Nā Pali Coast is not one of them. No road crosses it. No road ever could. We found our own way in — and it was nothing like we expected.
Hawaii
Ten Days in Paradise: Arriving on Kauai, Hawaii
The plane door opened, and warm air rushed in. Sweet, heavy, alive with something blooming I couldn't name. Wild chickens crossed the road as they owned it. Waves knocked me sideways at sunrise. Kauai doesn't ease you in. It just takes you.