Hawaii.

Did you expect me not to give this answer? Lol.

I'll start by saying I love Florida. I'm a native of Florida. The environmental aspects of it are unique and sublime. Albeit (word choice, grammar, style,... ?) it is overpopulated vis a vis its beautiful and fragile environment.

I was born in Florida, came of age in Florida. I am and consider myself a Florida native. Nothing can replace that feeling.

I'll add the blue, purple, and pink sunsets in Tampa and Sarasota put to shame any sunrise or sunset I've seen in Hawaii.

My viewpoint on Hawaii might surprise many people. Most people think of it as a beach and ocean paradise. That's not the way I experienced it.

It was to me a lot of light and color juxtaposed against a certain kind of darkness. It seemed to me to be almost a facsimile of the paintings painted by Captain Cook's artists, William Hodges most of all.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/...-hodges-captain-cook

That being said, I have a caveat at about my choice. It applies to certain places in Hawaii where I've lived or visited. It doesn't apply to I don't want to say just anywhere in the state but I just did it. I'll quality it to mean a limited but still vast number of places and landscapes that are rural and unspoiled. I've been asked over years if Hawaii is as beautiful as everyone says and I've answered yes definitely but you have to get out of the urban areas and even small towns. I know Hawaii Island and Maui like the back of my hand. I assure you in eighteen years there was nowhere on those two islands that it was humanely possible to go that I haven't been.

Two places stand out in my mind.

Upcountry in the Hamakua (accent on the last letter) District on Hawaii Island was my favorite place, where the night sky was indescribably beautiful, the area often had wind gusts in the 40- 60 mph range, where the rain can fall so hard on a metal roof two people can't hear the other speaking, where the air is as free of particles as possible anywhere in earth, and where the air feels like what I imagine it would feel like if you were literally in an oxygen chamber. The volcanic landscape views of forests and pasture lands leading downward to edge of the island to a vast view of the ocean itself are worth mentioning.

My second favorite place was Hana, Maui. I'd say put aside the class divisions, the fact many indigenous Hawaiians live there, and all the tourist hype. It is far and away the most beautiful beach I've seen in my life, the beach itself doesn't have a long shore line, the waves are gentle and the water as clear as glass. The beach itself is surrounded out of the way coral formations you can safely explore. It reminds me of an intimate outdoor oval amphitheater where half the oval rises at a gentle gradation and the water represents the stage. It must surely be one of the most beautiful places on earth.

There's a lot I could say about the history, politics, economy, and culture of Hawaii, but I'll skip it, because I could do the type of post about Florida.

There is no paradise on earth, there certainly in no utopia either.

I would pick up and move to Colorado next month to experience what it might be like living there in two or three months to have the experience of living there but I don't spend any of my money on the lottery.

I think this pretty much cover it

Interesting commentary! I don't know enough about Hawaii, having only been there once for a concert in Honolulu.

Florida Man!

Joe, thank you!

This is the best book written about Hawaii and probably the best one that will ever be written about it.

It is the audiobiogrsphy of the last Queen [regnant] of Hawaii. It is the definitive historical record of the overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii in 1893. The Queen was educated at the Royal School, a school run by UCC missionaries, for students who would have a possible future claim to the throne. Her 'voice' shows a consummate intelligence and education unburdened by any question of sounding archaic in its language. Her book is truly extraordinary in its tone and content. My favorite chapter is the one where she describes audience with Queen Victoria. The historical value of her book lies within in its purview of explaining the dynamics involved in the history of the monarchy and it's overthrow, and to a lesser extent, the aftermath of the overthrow and its consequences.

https://digital.library.upenn....i/hawaii/hawaii.html

I found this news story today about tourists on Maui in Kaupò (near Hana) being carjacked and hunted by a group using three brand a drone.

https://www.newsnationnow.com/...la-carjacked-robbed/

Wow.

This reminds me of a murder that happened at Maui's indoor mall. Two men got off of a bus, one followed the other into a bathroom, and decapitated him with a machete.

s/b Kaupō

s/b using three vehicles and a drone

Can’t recall whether I’ve been to Hawaii. I think I have and loved it.

Florida’s, I can do without much of it. Hated Miami and Miami Beach. Key Largo and Key West I could love.

J

Miami is my least favorite place in Florida.