KAILUA-KONA, Hawaii -- Driving through Hawaii's Kohala Mountains, I have what can only be described as a senior's moment. I look out the passenger window of our rental car and, for one instant, it looks for all the world like we're driving along Highway 22x south of Calgary ---- rounded, gently sloping mountains dotted with pine trees and carpeted with green, prairie-like grass, being grazed upon by cattle, is the sight that greets my gaze. At 1,000 metres above sea level, we're at an elevation higher than most of Canada and the ocean is nowhere in sight.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm talking specifically about Hawaii's Big Island. Not Oahu -- Honolulu's home isle is much smaller. Not Maui, either -- that island Eden receives more visitors, with higher accommodation prices to match. I'm talking about the island called Hawaii, the youngest in the chain and, at 10,432 square kilometres, by far the largest.

"I think we made a mistake by calling ourselves (Hawaii)," says George Applegate, executive director of the Big Island Visitors Bureau. He says when people think of Hawaii, Waikiki Beach or Maui usually come to mind -- not the biggest island with the state's name attached to it. When King Kamehameha I unified the Hawaiian islands under his rule, he named the archipelago Hawaii because he hailed from the Big Island of Hawaii. "The biggest challenge is letting people know who we really are."