Hawaii is like no other place in the world. Spending time at the beach is commonplace for most residents. Both children and adults dance hula at every opportunity—at birthday parties, weddings, other special occasions or just while enjoying the aforementioned beach time. At any given moment, there are more unique, fun and (mostly) free activities and events than can fit into anyone’s busy schedule. Those of us who are lucky enough to live in Hawaii consider all this part of our everyday life.
Downtown Honolulu’s renovated Hawaii Theater is a great place to catch a play, dance performance or music recital. And there are plenty of restaurants nearby.
Surfers carry their boards across Kalakaua Avenue in Waikiki during a break in one of Hawaii’s many parades.
Hawaii could once claim the largest cattle ranch in the U.S. (yes, bigger than those in Texas). Parcels of it have since been sold, but there are still plenty of ranches and cowboys in the Islands, and they love their rodeos.
Impromptu street musicians in downtown Honolulu
Checking out the cockpit of a flight simulator at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island, Pearl Harbor.
The gecko is Hawaii’s unofficial state lizard. Here’s one, doing his job by posing with a local visitor to the Battleship Missouri Memorial, Pearl Harbor.
It seems that everyone these days sports an elaborate tattoo. Some are just for decoration, but others follow Polynesian tradition and are rich with symbolic meaning.
May 1 in Hawaii is not May Day—it’s Lei Day. Another excuse to wear colorful flower lei and dance hula.
When it comes to hula, everybody gets into the act, including these cute keiki (children)
Paniolo (Hawaiian cowboy) on the job at a Maui ranch.
Playtime with water-filled soda bottles and rocket launchers (air pumps).
At any given time in Kapiolani Park under the shadow of Waikiki’s Diamond Head, you can see jugglers, slackliners and other performers practicing just for fun.
Island folks love to get together and eat out, and with so many enticing Korean, Vietnamese, Chinese, French, German, Hawaiian and other ethnic restaurants to choose from, who can blame them.
In Hawaii, we don’t just play checkers. We play checkers with shells.
When you live on a small island, the ocean is part of your home and your lifestyle. Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands settled Hawaii by traveling here in outrigger canoes.
There & Back 
gorgeous post thank you and another place to visit is now on my list of places i got when i win the lottery 🙂 seriously hawaii looks truly gorgeous and it would be wonderful to visit, thank you for sharing have a great day xx
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I am cheering for you to win that lottery, kizzy. Seriously! And thank you for your always wonderful appreciation of my posts. I do hope you make it to Hawaii someday, and I will be your tour guide when you get here 🙂
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Great post. You made me feel that Haiwaii is as much a state of mind as a spot on the map. Thanks and thanks for following me.
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Thanks, and your post on Vietnam’s Mekong River made me feel the same way. I hope to take my camera to Vietnam in the not too distant future. Btw, would you mind sharing what camera and lenses you use?
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I wrote about what I travel with in a post on my primary web site about 18 months ago and nothing has really changed.
http://ronmayhewphotography.com/in-the-bag-what-goes-with-me/
The newer Nikon bodies have more features and mega pixels but what I have suits me quite well. Having said that, I have been looking ate the Panasonic micro four thirds systems. They are smaller, lighter and less expensive.
Feel free to contact me through my web site if you have more specific questions.
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It seems we’re on the same wavelength: Nikon and travel light. Now that you’ve mentioned it, I’m going to look into the Panasonic, too. Mahalo (thank you) for the tip and your website link.
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Island Cowboys!! 😀
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Yessiree! When Hawaii was still a kingdom, the king brought over some Spanish (Espanol) cowboys to teach the Hawaiians how to ride and rope. The name for Hawaiian cowboy—Paniolo—is an adjusted form of Espanol.
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interesting!
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Pingback: Weekly Photo Challenge: Everyday Life « The White Pumpkin Light
Great collection of fun and colorful photos.
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Thank you so much, NN. Glad you liked them. That fits Hawaii—fun and colorful.
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Rodeos and ranching in Hawaii….who knew?! And I love the sea shell checker game. Talk about being resourceful. What a fun glimpse into the daily life of Hawaii. I can tell you guys know how to live the good life!
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We have polo, too. And opera. And skiing, of sorts, on the Big Island’s Mauna Kea (white mountain). Hawaii is full of surprises. And, yes, the early Hawaiians were very inventive and loved games. Perhaps I’ll do a post on Makahiki—a 4-month period in the Fall when warfare stopped, the harvest was brought in, and Hawaiians played games of all sorts. As for living the good life, I think some of us get caught up in the same trap people in other places do—working too much and not getting out enough to have fun. Still, it’s nice to know all that fun is out there when we make time for it.
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Sigh….be there soon!
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E komo mai (welcome). You won’t regret it 🙂
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it looks amazing and its funny how we become immune to the wonderful sights in our own backyard
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So, so true. I think we need to be prodded and reminded every once in a while.
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Thanks for the Hawaiian tour
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You’re welcome, and my pleasure. Come experience it in person. We love visitors to our islands.
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I wish I could come 🙂 I would have been on the next flight!
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It’ll be here waiting for you when you’re able to make it 🙂
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Hawaii is one of those places I haven’t been to yet, and really want to go to. Thanks for sharing the beautiful photos from a beautiful place.
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I’m a one-woman cheering squad for Hawaii, and it’s a lot more accessible and affordable than you might think. There are great deals for visitors (flights/hotels) happening all the time, so come, enjoy our islands. Take a catamaran ride off Waikiki, swim with wild dolphins, hike in the rainforest, all that good stuff and much more 🙂
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Wonderful shots Jennifer! 🙂
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Thank you. I’m so glad you enjoyed them 🙂
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Fabulous pics of the fun and vibrant everyday life in Hawaii. I loved visiting there. 🙂
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Thank you, and now I’d love to know what you saw while here. Did you hike to the top of Diamond Head for the spectacular view, or swim with the fishes at Hanauma Bay, or eat coconut shrimp from one of the mobile food wagons, or try pig cooked in an imu (underground oven) or poi? 🙂 Actually poi is pretty good when it’s fresh. Hawaiians like the 3-day-old sour kind.
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It sounds wonderful. I must visit the state someday.
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Yes, you must come and see for yourself. Whatever you like to do, it’s here 🙂
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You have given me even more of an incentive to save up for a visit with your gorgeous shots ! Such variety in so many ways 🙂
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Yay, that’s what I like to hear. We love our visitors. And if you’d like to see more of Hawaii’s variety, I have another post called Repetition, which is all Hawaii shots.
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Hawaii’s finest charms are those shared by all. Thank you for sharing them here.
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So true, Lara. And one of those charms is the warmth and friendship we in Hawaii share with each other and with visitors.
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