There was a time when the west coast of Oahu was only visited by surfers bound for Yokohama Bay and hikers heading to the spit of wilderness at Kaena Point. This is the sunniest and driest part of the island, where steep cliffs plummet to the blinding white sand beaches. Then JW Marriott made the bold move to build their 387-room property, the Ihilani Resort and Spa, on the remote leeward coast. In 2011, Disney followed suit and opened their first resort not affiliated with a theme park. Called Aulani, the property helped spur on travel to Oahu, especially at a time when many families found the resorts of Waikiki to be dated and chose instead to head to the Hawaiian islands of Maui, The Big Island, and Kauai. The two resorts are now part of the umbrella Ko Olina Resort and have been joined by two other properties, Marriott’s Ko Olina Beach Club and Ko Olina Beach Villas.
I arrived at Ko Olina Resort with my family last night and have the good fortune to be reporting live from this glorious locale over the 4th of July holiday. Follow me through the course of this week at
www.ActiveTravels.com/blog,
@ActiveTravels on Twitter, and my Facebook Page,
www.Facebook.com/ActiveTravels, to learn more about everything Ko Olina Resort offers. I’ll discuss the types of accommodation; the numerous activities including snorkeling with wild dolphins straight from the Ko Olina marina, trying the Ted Robinson-designed golf course, stargazing, and listening to live Hawaiian music; and dining at some of the foremost restaurants on Oahu including Roy Yamaguchi and Peter Merriman’s Ko Olina outposts. I’ll also drive outside the resort gates to find the funky west coast villages of Nanakuli, Waianae, and Makaha, still home to Hawaiian families that date back some 500 years. Unlike Waikiki, the Leeward Coast still retains a semblance of authenticity. Please stay tuned!
One of my first stories as a journalist was a profile of explorer Richard Bangs for Men’s Journal magazine. Bangs had just published Rivergods: Exploring the World’s Great Wild Rivers. As co-founder of Sobek Expeditions in 1973, Bangs almost single handedly put the sport of whitewater rafting on the map. In fact, he led first descents on 35 rivers around the world, inspiring me to go on my own first descent, an epic whitewater run on the Klinaklini River in British Columbia. The restless Bangs has never been one to rest on his laurels. Lately, he has won two Emmy awards for his documentary work that has taken him all over the world, including trips to New Zealand, Egypt, Morocco, Hong Kong, and Norway. His latest release is South America: Quest for Wonder, now being shown on PBS stations across America. Join Richard as he travels to four of the greatest locales on the continent, Iguaçu Falls in Brazil and Argentina; Easter Island in Chile; the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru; and the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador. “There are so many wonders in South America, I turned starboard to seek the latitudes of marvels, and this is what I found,” Bangs mentioned in a recent email. Have a look at any of the four episodes and you’ll understand why Bangs’ passion for travel is contagious. 
One of my favorite topics to write about the last couple years is how urban designers and landscape architects have recently created parks from contaminated settings, landfills, abandoned manufacturing plants, and no longer viable space such as an elevated train track on the lower West Side of Manhattan, now the popular High Line Park. Former brownfields like a 9-acre parcel of land on Puget Sound, once dotted with UNOCAL’s oil tanks, is now home to Seattle’s Olympic Sculpture Park. Landschaftspark in Duisburg-Nord, Germany, is a former coal and steel plant that now features a high ropes course. 
For those of you in the region, I’ll be leading a panel at the 
Another great day ride, this one an hour outside of Miami. Drive west on the Tamiami Trail (Highway 41) and you’ll reach the 
After a necessary stop on the French side of Switzerland to dine on patisserie in Montreux at