Hawaii Who Knews?

1. That traveling to the world's most active volcano on the Big Island would feel like driving deep into the temperate rain forest of the Olympic Peninsula.

2. That the current eruption on said volcano has been going on more or less continually since 1983.

3. That the Hawaiian alphabet has no letter S.

4. That for many years the largest ranch in the United States, the Parker Ranch, was in Hawaii and Spanish-speaking cowboys managed the vast herds of cattle.

5. That humpback whales regularly entertain near the shores of Maui from November through about March.

6. That the ski season runs from January to February.

7. That the southernmost point of the United States is -- duh -- South Point on the Big Island.

8. That the bright idea of importing the mongoose to control rats did not work so well because the mongoose is diurnal and rats mostly nocturnal.

9. That the governor is an Republican woman, wildly popular in the state, who campaigned as an outsider and wears stylish glasses.