Life in Hawaii

It's been just over five years since I sold almost everything I owned, packed what was left into a suitcase, and along with my three young children boarded a one way flight from Baltimore, Maryland to the island of Oahu, Hawaii.

Long before I left Baltimore, I spent countless hours on the internet browsing websites looking for any scrap of information I could find on just what Hawaii was really like, and particularly what was everyday life in Hawaii going to be like.

What I found most frustrating was the lack of photographs of Hawaii online at the time. Now of course you say, there are plenty of photos of Hawaii online. Well sure there are, Hawaii has got to be one of the most photographed places on the planet. But when you are planning on picking up your entire life and moving almost a quarter of the way around the planet, the countless photos of Diamond Head, Waikiki Beach and Pearl Harbor don't do much to prepare you for what the rest of Hawaii really looks like.

I knew that people didn't live on Diamond Head, and everybody didn't live in Waikiki Beach; but no matter how much I searched, I could not find much in the way of pictures of the rest of Hawaii, where all the people lived. There were plenty of photos of other popular tourist sites and famous Hawaii points of interest, but no everyday off-the-tourist-track stuff.

So I vowed that when I finally made it to Hawaii I would take pictures of the rest of Hawaii and make them available for people to see. In 2005 I setup my website which I named ComeSeeHawaii.com. I had been taking picture since my feet touched the island and I started to put them online so that people could see them.

In the beginning, the only visitors to ComeSeeHawaii.com were me and any friends or family members that I could annoy into checking out my new site. It wasn't until I developed my first Hawaii Photo Gallery gadget and posted it to the Google directory that people started to come by my site to see more of Hawaii. To those of you that have been with me since the beginning, I say Mahalo. In case you have not visited my Hawaiian words and phrases page, that is Hawaiian for thank you. Mahalo for your comments, your patience through the ABC LOST Premiere photo loop. Mahalo for sticking with me when I stopped posting my own photos for a time and only displayed Hawaii photos from Allposters.com. It was gratifying that so many of you asked me to return to showing my own pictures over the commercial photographs.

So now it's been five years, I have a ton of photos and I have learned a lot about life in Hawaii. My intention with this blog is to share more non-traditional sights and insights into life in Hawaii with you. As you have noticed, I have changed my Hawaii Photo Gallery gadget to include interaction from you. I hope that you will share your Hawaii impressions, experiences, questions and thoughts via Facebook, Twitter or this blog. The gadget is always a work in progress and I welcome your feedback.