When I saw a new book called “Lonely Planet’s 1000 Ultimate Sights,” my first move was to check the index for Hawaii entries. If Hawaii wasn’t listed often for awesomeness, I thought, the book missed the boat.
I need not have doubted. Of the U.S. sights listed, Hawaii comes in third, behind New York City with 16 entries and Los Angeles with eight. Those cities are noted for remarkable gardens, museums and hotels, but they also get hits under such headings as “Most Astounding Ego Trips” (Trump Tower) and “Most Interesting Subway Stations” (Hollywood and Vine).
Hawaii’s sights are all gloriously outdoors.
I wondered which of our state’s countless charms Lonely Planet chose for this book, and guessed wrong on all counts. Only Oahu, Molokai and Hawaii island made the cut, leaving out my two of my favorites, Maui’s Honolua Bay and Kauai’s Hanalei Bay. Those two places deserve books all their own.
Of Lonely Planet’s seven Hawaii choices, Oahu scored two, both marine. They are places we Hawaii residents usually visit only when entertaining guests and then, afterward, swear to go to more often.
One of these locations, listed under “Top WWII Sites,” is Pearl Harbor’s USS Arizona Memorial. I went there last week (yes, with visitors) and discovered that the renovations begun in 2008 are now finished, and impressively so. This first-class historical park features three museums, a theater showing a lump-in-the-throat film, and a boat ride to the memorial spanning the submerged USS Arizona.
I also took my visitors to Lonely Planet’s other Oahu ultimate site, Banzai Pipeline, featured under “Best Sporty Sights.” The surf was small by North Shore standards, but the beaches of the area are so white and wide, the water so blue and the surfers so, um, healthy, I felt like I was in an episode of “Hawaii Five-0.”
Hawaii island received two thumbs up, one in “Underwater Sites” for snorkeling or diving with the manta rays of the Kona Coast. The second, under “Most Unusual Beaches,” is the green-sand beach of Papakolea.
Hawaii’s three land locations in this book of wonders are Volcanoes National Park, Mauna Kea under “Most Brilliant Night Skies” and Kalaupapa’s 3,000-foot-tall sea cliff under “Most Vertigo-Inducing Cliffs.”
The Hawaii selections could have been any of dozens, of course, but the chosen ones work for me. My Hawaii island trip next week now includes a hike to Papakolea’s olivine beach.
I couldn’t resist paging through my new Lonely Planet guide to see how many of the 1,000 sights were ocean-oriented and how many amazing places I have yet to visit. Oh! There’s Peninsula Valdez, the place where orcas beach themselves to catch sea lions.
This phenomenon is so incredible it’s mentioned twice, once in “Greatest Wildlife Spectacles” and also in “Ultimate Predators in Action.” How do I get there? (Via Buenos Aires.) When should I go? (March.)
I was Googling my life away, even going so far as to check airfares from Honolulu. To get any work done, I had to shelve the book.
My must-see list is now longer than my expected life span. Fortunately, I live in the middle of the best of it.
