Shangri La?

Having recently written a novel about the longing for utopia (The Assassin Lotus), it was wonderful to take a trip with my wife to a real-world paradise--the "Garden Isle" of Kauai. Oldest of the Hawaiian Islands, it remains as lush and wild as when I traveled there as a teenager some 40 years ago. A veritable Garden of Eden--without a single snake!  Click the pics to enlarge: