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View From Here - Hawaii Travel Blog - Arts & Local Culture

Welcome to View from Here, a travel blog, where I write about living in, traveling about and experiencing Hawaii as a malihini, a 12-year-resident of the Hawaiian Islands. My name is Kim Steutermann Rogers, and you're likely to find blog posts here about food--who doesn't like to eat?--and outdoor adventure. Like hiking through Haleakala on Maui. Diving with manta rays off Hawaii (Big) Island. Snorkeling Shark's Cove on Oahu. And paddling Napali Coast of my home island, Kauai. Not that I'm some, young, adrenaline junkie. Those days are long over. I just enjoy collecting life experiences. And that's why you probably won't find much in the way of shopping here, unless it's about a fantastic, locally-made product--like soap--and the charming, young, single-mother who makes it. Then, I gush on and on. Oh, as a warning, I can sometimes jump on my soap box and write about the realities of marine debris, Hawaii's endangered species--like humpback whales and Hawaiian monk seals--great book discoveries and the wonders of nature. And my dogs.

Total Number of Entries - 125

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April in Photos

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Wed 5/1/2013

Make vs. take. When I first got into photography with a Kodak Pocket Instamatic 110-format camera--about the size and shape of a TV remote--I was most definitely taking pictures. Apart from choosing when to turn on the flash, all I did was point and shoot.
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Chinatown: More than Just Chicken Feet

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Wed 4/24/2013

Destination: Oahu

Most people come to Chinatown looking for dim sum, noodle houses, flowers, fruit, bootleg trinkets and your more unusual ingredients for Asian recipes. Chicken feet anyone? On the first Friday of every month, there’s also Art Night—with street food, performance artists, Taiko drumming, and art gallery showings. But I found myself in Chinatown on an architectural tour.
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Keepers of the Light, Land and Life: A Look at Kilauea Point over 100 Years

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Fri 4/19/2013

Destination: Kauai

As a volunteer at Kīlauea Point National Wildlife Refuge on the north shore of Kauai for many years, my interest and body of knowledge tended toward the wildlife—that is, the science of biology and living things, like monitoring Laysan albatrosses, banding red-tailed tropicbirds and studying visiting humpback whales. I noticed and appreciated the big, white tower in the middle of Kīlauea Point with its priceless “crown jewel” sitting on top, but I left the intricate details of the second-order Fresnel lens and its mysterious inner workings to people more interested in engineering and that kind of science. Then, I was asked to write a book in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Kīlauea Lighthouse this May 1, 2013, and in doing so, I learned a whole host of cool, new facts.
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Talk Story with Maui Author Toby Neal

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Tue 4/16/2013

When feisty Detective Leilani Texeira--with unruly hair; a runner’s, lean body; and a penchant for going rogue--winds up in a cave that requires a stretch of underwater swimming to access, I suspected author Toby Neal had lived on The Garden Island at one time. She knew the hidden folds and nuances of Kauai just a little too well.
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The Trail to Kaniakapupu Palace

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Fri 4/12/2013

Destination: Oahu

Like Kaniakapupu, the summer palace of King Kamehameha III and his wife Queen Kalama, in Nuuanu. It was built in 1845. According to the plaque in front of the crumbling rock wall ruins, the palace—a term to be taken loosely—was a place for parties. The biggest of which took place in 1847 to celebrate Hawaiian Restoration Day.
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March in Photos

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Fri 4/5/2013

Destination: Kauai

My first foray into a trend I’ve just discovered that’s called “urban exploration” unwittingly took place in March when my friend Pam and I photographed Ahukini Pier. That is, the remains of Ahukini Pier, which is now called Ahukini State Recreational Pier. This was once the hub of Kauai’s inter-island shipping commerce--where much of Kauai’s sugar harvest left the island and where passengers came and went. Then, after World War II, Nawiliwili Harbor was constructed and that was pretty much the end of Ahukini Landing.
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The Inspiration of a Master Canoe Shaper

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Wed 3/27/2013

Destination: Oahu

I spent an afternoon last week in an industrial area a few miles from Honolulu International Airport, past a sand and gravel supplier, a drywall contractor and a cabinet re-facing company, in a setting that made me wonder whether Hawaii Five-0 had filmed here. The place was hot, reeked of migraine-inducing paint fumes, and everything was coated in layers of dust that you could measure in quarter inches, and for Tay Perry, this is his office away from the office. Amidst the sounds of power sanders and paint guns, this is where a lifetime of passion and sweat go into creating Tay’s legacy—shaping canoes.
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The Crazy Chicken Lady

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Tue 3/19/2013

Destination: Kauai

Today, returning home from the Anahola Post Office, where I learned that after a couple dozen years with the USPS, my buddy Brian retired without telling a soul, I pulled into our driveway and no fewer than six “yard” chickens ran up to greet me. Let’s see, there was Hoppy leading the charge. Blackie. Little Blackie YL. Blondie. Green Legs. And Ham. Did you know chickens can run at speeds of up to nine miles an hour?
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February in Photos

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Fri 3/1/2013

For a month with only 28 days, I managed to pack in quite a bit. Even with five days of vacation in there. So, here it is, my February in photos. Enjoy.
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My Love Affair with Lahaina

Kim Steutermann Rogers on Wed 2/20/2013

Destination: Maui

This is one of the things I love about Lahaina: the depth of the place. You cannot walk down Front Street without running into it. The town has history. It oozes from the break wall running in front of the wooden storefronts. It seeps from the rock and coral Masters’ Reading Room, built in 1834.
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