TRAVELING IN STYLE : Traveler’s Choice

Trade winds perfumed with the sweetness of plumeria blow across desolate lava beds and funnel up the slopes of wet, green mountains . . . into valleys choked with rainbows.

This is Hawaii with its smoldering sunsets, white-sand beaches, taro farms, and peaceful lagoons that mirror an incredibly blue sky.

Pictured here is spectacular Akaka Falls on the Big Island, a narcotic to legions of vacationers drawn to this peaceful world near Hilo.

On other islands, only a few miles from the resort scenes of Waikiki and Lahaina, visitors travel along country lanes to picnic on uncrowded beaches . . . birds sing out from jungle hiding places . . . and the thunder of the surf collides against distant reefs.

Day ends, and the sky is laced with flames.

Breezes blow softly from the vast emptiness of the Pacific . . . and Hawaii remains a pleasant dream.