I never had the chance to visit our nation’s most exotic state until this winter. Hawaii is sometimes downplayed as “just another state”, but a string of tropical islands in the middle of the world’s biggest ocean is nothing to scoff at. Indeed, aside from the commercialization that any 21st century state has, Hawaii boasts some of the more stunning viewscapes anywhere. I took a particularly scenic drive around the entire island of Maui, and was struck by the way you can see how the whole land mass rose from the ocean. Distinctly unlike the palm-tree-laden postcards, much of the island is rough, raw, and gorgeously barren. Windswept valleys and volcanic cliffs are interlaced with pale green lichen and mosses, and the roads cut a smooth curve through the jagged hills.
