Four Magic Words

I've been telling people that I am going on vacation and when they ask where, it feels surreal to answer, "I'm going to Hawai'i."

This statement has illicited a dreamy-eyed affect (see photo) on nearly everyone I have uttered it to. If they haven't been, they want to go. If they've been, they want to be going again. Never has any destination I've been to (Florida, Colorado, Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, California, Myrtle Beach, New York City) brought on the response I get from saying the word Hawai'i. It's magic.

There is a Shangri-la notion of this place, imaginings of a world filled with waterfalls and rainbows. One person summed up a trip to these islands with, "That's the American dream." I know I thought that it would always remain one for me.