Besides the fact that Hawaii is a beautiful place in general, there's much more to the Aloha state than just the beaches, pineapples, and sugarcane plantations. It’s not like anyone needs any convincing to go and visit the state of Hawaii but here are a few more reasons to further intrigue you.
1. Hawaii is the only state that grows coffee.
With the majority of the U.S. population-- and college students-- who depend on caffeine to start their day, we are eternally grateful for this. The islands of Hawaii are home to the Arabica plant, which produces the berries that contain the beans in which we use to grind up to make coffee.2. Hawaii is the widest (east to west) state in the United States.
Yes, even wider than Texas! Although it may be hard to believe, the Hawaiian islands spread across the Pacific Ocean for a total of 1,500 miles.
3. Hawaii is the only state with its own language.
Although states such as New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Texas, or California have their share of slang and accents, Hawaii is the only state with a language that is entirely its own. The Hawaiian Monarchy was the first government to be overthrown by the U.S. Since then, both English and Hawaii serve as the official languages of Hawaii. And even though most people on the island speak English today, the language of the Hawaiian Natives is still alive today.
4. Hawaii is also the only state with its own time-zone.
Contrary to popular reference to it as "island time", it is called Hawaiian Standard Time. It is 3 hours behind Pacific Standard Time and, like Arizona, they don't take part in daylight savings time.
5. The Big island of Hawaii is home to the world's most active volcano today, The Kilauea volcano.
The volcano has an elevation of 4,091 feet and has had near-continuous eruptions since the year of 1960-- sometimes up to 3 times in one year. Despite this, people are still able to tour the world's most active volcano.
6. The Hawaiian islands hold multiple world records.
They have more scientific observatories than any other place in the entire world. They also have the world's largest telescope. In addition, they also have the world's largest line of surf boards on the island of Maui.
7. There are no racial or ethnical majorities in Hawaii.
Everyone is a minority. 50 states reports that "Caucasians (Haoles) constitute about 34%; Japanese-American about 32%; Filipino-American about 16% and Chinese-American about 5%. It is very difficult to determine racial identification as most of the population has some mixture of ethnicities."
8. There are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet.
Vowels: A, E, I, O, and U and Consonants: H, K, L, M, N, P, and W.
Don't let this fool you, the Hawaiian language is a complex one to learn to speak. Each and every vowel is pronounced, and even sound different than in English.
9. Hawaii's terrain resembles the moon.
The surface of the Mauna Loa volcano resembles the surface of the moon. In the 1960s astronauts trained for their missions to the moon by walking on the surface of the Mauna Loa volcano, located on the Big island.
10. In the year 2000, the average lifespan of a native-born Hawaiian was 79.8 years.
This is the longest lifespan in comparison to any other state in the U.S.--something to think about when looking for a place to settle down. :)
