History-Buff.com - Hot Hawaii Facts

Fun Hawaii Facts ==================

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- Hawaii is one of only three U.S. states that do not observe Daylight Saving Time, and the only one of those three that does not use DST anywhere in its territory. - Iolani Palace, the only royal residence in the United States, was once the home of King Kalakaua and Queen Liliuokalani, the last monarchs of HawaiiÅ. It is open to visitors. - Hawaii is the only U.S. state without a state police force. - Hawaii is the only state which has no state DMV. Vehicle registration and driver licensing in Hawaii have been delegated to county governments. - Unique to Hawaii is the way it has organized its municipal governments. There are no incorporated cities in Hawaii except the City and County of Honolulu. All other municipal governments are administered at county level. - Hawaii is home to two of the largest independent schools in the United States: Punahou School and the Kamehameha Schools. - Local directions in Hawaii are not normally expressed in terms of compass points (i.e., north-south-east-west) but by a radial system that uses local landmarks. For example, mauka means inland (literally, "towards the mountain"), while makai means the opposite ("towards the sea"). In Honolulu, "Diamond Head" or "Koko Head" are equivalent to "east," because those are the main landmarks on the coast east of downtown Honolulu, and "Ewa" is equivalent to "west," because that place is on the coast west of Honolulu. So instead of saying something was on the north-west corner of an intersection in Honolulu, it might be described as the "mauka and "ewa" corner of that intersection. - Hawaii is home to a number of endemic plant and animal species that are vulnerable to outside threats. Among the rarest is the Poouli, a Hawaiian honeycreeper with only two known surviving members, both on the island of Maui. - Mount Waialeale on Kauai is one of the wettest spots on earth, averaging 460 inches (11.7 m) of rain a year. - Hawaii has an array of colorful beaches, with sand colors of white, black, red, grey, brown-black and green.