Hallowed, Heavenly Hawaii

When I was growing up, I was lucky enough to live in and visit a number of fabulous locations. My dad spent 21 years in the Air Force and I wear the title military brat proudly.

I think one of my favorite places we lived was Hawaii. Hawaii is an unbelievably beautiful place to explore and having 2 years there was truly amazing. I remember walking down to the canals and going fishing, picking mangoes from our neighbor's tree, and the hours spent body surfing at Bellow's Beach.

Bellow's Beach - picture from a travel website

Bellow's Beach is a military owned beach and it was one of the best body surfing beaches on the island. For me, one of the highlights of body surfing at Bellow's Beach was taking our dog with us. Buffy would get out there in the water and, just like the people, he'd watch the waves over his shoulder. When he saw a good wave, he'd launch himself (usually at the same time as the people) and he'd ride the wave all the way into the shore.

We also loved visiting Hanauma Bay. Hanauma Bay is a fabulous snorkeling location. It is so well protected from the waves that the water

Hanauma Bay - picture from a travel website

was almost waveless and crystal clear. As long as you swam slowly and carefully, the gorgeous tropical fish living in that bay would swim right up to you and would even let you touch them occasionally. I'm really glad to hear that Hawaii has taken steps to protect this beautiful spot and preserve it for generations to come.

We also managed to take a trip to the Big Island while we lived in Hawaii. While we were living in Germany, my parents had met a lovely couple who lived on the Big Island. Since we had a place to stay over there, we got to see the black sand beach at Punalu'u before they were destroyed in the

The Black Sand beach at Punalu'u - from a computer wall paper site

never-ending explosion of Kilauea Iki. We also were able to explore some of the famous Hawaiian petroglyphs without hiking too far into the mountains

copyright Yves Rubin

because our wonderful hosts' had some practically in their back yard. It was so cool knowing that you were seeing and touching the exact spot someone touched a very long time ago.

I really hope I can share these amazing locations with my children someday.

What is your favorite place that you've either visited or lived? Or, where do you fantasize about visiting someday?