With more than 10 years of experience as a professional writer, Megan holds a degree in Mass Media from her home state of Minnesota. After college, she chose to trade in her winter boots for slippahs and moved to the beautiful island of Oahu, where she has been living for more than five years. She lives on the west side but is constantly taking mini-road trips across the island and visits the neighboring islands whenever she can getaway. She loves hiking, snorkeling, locally-grown coffee, and finding the best acai bowl on Oahu.
Hawaii could be easily classified as the most unique state in the United States. From Kona coffee to one of the most active volcanoes in the world, there are things you will find in Hawaii that can’t be found anywhere else in the United States – and maybe even the world.
1) According to Forbes, Waimanalo Bay Beach Park on Oahu’s windward coast is the best beach in America. Plus, more than 100 Hawaiian beaches made the list of the world’s best beaches.
2) Mauna Kea, on Hawaii’s Big Island, is the highest mountain in the world, when measured from the ocean floor to its top-most part – a total of 33,476 feet from ocean floor to peak.
5) Oahu is also home to Pearl Harbor, including a series of historic sites that will teach you not only about WWII, but also about American Naval history.
6) Real Kona coffee is only grown in a small section of fertile volcanic soil on Hawaii’s Big Island, and is definitely a cut above any coffee you can find, well, pretty much anywhere.
7) Hawaii is the location for several major surfing competitions each year, including the Vans World Cup of Surfing and the Quick Silver In Memory of Eddie Aikau competitions.
9) Thanks to Kilauea Volcano, which has been erupting for more than 30 years, the Big Island is actually getting bigger – by more than 42 acres each year.
11) Located on an isolated peninsula on the northern side of Molokai is Kalaupapa, the site of a leper colony. From 1866 to 1969, thousands of men, women and children diagnosed with leprosy were exiled to the colony by the Hawaiian government and legally declared dead.
