View From Here - Hawaii Travel Blog

Vacations Are Good for Your Health and Marriage

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Thu 8/19/2010

It’s no surprise to hear that studies show vacation can lower blood pressure, lower stress hormones and generate overall feelings of well-being. For me, vacation gave me a new home. My husband and I moved to Hawaii for the same reasons we vacationed here: The warm weather, the ocean and the myriad of activities available to us--from golf, running and hiking to paddling outrigger canoes, snorkeling and diving.  Now that we live in Hawaii, we get asked all the time: When you live in paradise, where do you go on vacation?

A Weekend On Kauai

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Tue 7/20/2010

Saturday night found us at the Kapaa Jodo Mission for their annual bon dance festival. We ate “pronto pups” (you may know them as corn dogs) and “flying saucers” (a.k.a sloppy joe’s) and chili rice, the staple foods of these events happening most every weekend throughout the summer across the Hawaiians Islands.

From the Photo Files

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Sat 7/17/2010

A Gift of Music at the Waikiki Aquarium

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Mon 7/12/2010

In the summer, the aquarium hosts Ke Kani O Ke Kai, The Sound of the Ocean, a series of five Hawaiian music concerts. You tour some exhibits, nosh on a selected menu of dinner entrees from local restaurants, and about the time the sun sets, you take your place on the grassy lawn and settle in for the evening performance.

In Hawaii: Expect Nothing. Be Ready for Anything.

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Wed 7/7/2010

Last month, I flew to Maui for the Kapalua Wine & Food Festival. I arrived at the Saturday afternoon Kapalua Wine Tour at The Ritz-Carlton promptly at 12:45 p.m. I hauled my laptop, two cameras, digital voice recorder, phone, notepad and pens in my favorite traveling backpack—the Sherpani Tosca. That meant my hands were free for things like, oh, wine.

Our Oceans Connect the World

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Thu 6/10/2010

According to a press release from The Ocean Project, the goal of World Oceans Day is “to raise awareness about the crucial role the ocean plays in our lives, and the important ways people can help to protect our shared world ocean.”  In the United States, Hawaii became the first state to recognize and celebrate World Oceans Day. On Tuesday, volunteers around the state participated in beach clean ups and reef surveys. Seminars and movie screenings educated the public on the prevalence of plastic in our Pacific Ocean.

Hawaii-Style Graduation

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Fri 5/28/2010

All across America, students are donning caps and gowns and walking into stadiums, gymnasiums and arenas to the strains of Pomp and Circumstance. It’s graduation season.

Outdoor Showering: A Reason to Travel

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Wed 5/19/2010

Showering in the outdoors is standard in Hawaii. Most state and county beach parks provide, at the least, a pipe with some semblance of shower fixture at head level. Others include a concrete pad with three or four showerheads radiating out of the top and the same number of foot showers about 12-inches off the ground.

Kaui Hart Hemmings Hawaii's Cinderella

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Sat 5/15/2010

The Descendants is a book that starts off as awkward as a newborn colt taking its first steps. But it gallops to the finish a good three lengths ahead of its nearest competitor and that’s what makes it stick in your mind. What author Kaui Hart Hemmings managed to do in her debut novel is present Hawaii in all its paradisiacal and real ways. She makes Hawaii accessible way to the rest of the world. You don’t just have to live in Hawaii, love Hawaii or have ever visited Hawaii to enjoy this book.

Princess Kaiulani the Movie

Kim Steutermann Rogers  on Mon 5/10/2010

Not all of Hollywood’s movies make it to Hawaii. This Friday, however, a movie will open in a limited release—including the islands of Hawaii. Princess Kaiulani is a coming-of-age story of a young woman in Hawaii. The lead character in this movie was, indeed, a real woman and a real princess.