Thursday marks 55 years since Hawaii officially joined the United States of America, with the Pacific island paradise the last state to enter the 50-strong party in 1959.
Throughout its modern history, Hawaii has grown world famous for many of its unique offerings - from the amazing beaches to its natural beauty to the people's inimitable culture. But it also shouldn't be overlooked for its world-record breaking ways.
More than 100 Guinness World Records titles have been set in Hawaii, but this is the Internet and nobody has time for all that! Instead, here are 10 of our favourite records set in The Aloha State.
LARGEST COLLECTION OF SURFBOARDS
At last official count, Donald Dettloff owned 647 different surfboards, on display around his property in Haiku, Maui (above, and top), that took him more than 15 years to assemble. His collection is widely known as "The Surfboard Fence," because Donald initially wired the surfboards he owned to his property's fence to keep them from blowing away during a hurricane.
LARGEST COFFEE MOSAIC
The largest coffee mosaic consisted of 5,642 cups of coffee in different shades, depicting the face of Elvis Presley. It was created by DFS Hawaii at the DFS Galleria Waikiki in Honolulu in August 2012, with varying amount of milk added to achieve the multicoloured look.
For more Elvis-related records, check out our recent tribute to The King.
OLDEST WOMAN TO COMPLETE A MARATHON
The oldest female to complete a marathon was Gladys Burrill (USA) at the age of 92 years 19 days at the Honolulu Marathon on Dec. 12, 2010. Burrill completed the race in 9 hr 53 min 16 sec.
FASTEST MILE IN A BOMB DISPOSAL SUIT (FEMALE)
From marathons to miles, Hawaii has been an epicentre for athletic girl power. The fastest mile in a bomb disposal suit by a female is 11 min 6 sec by Ashley Sorensen at the University of Hawaii Athletics Track in Honolulu on Sept. 23, 2013. A lieutenant in the U.S. Army, Sorensen can be watched in action above.
LARGEST ACTIVE VOLCANO
The famous Mauna Loa holds the shape of a broad gentle dome 120 km (75 mi) long and 50 km (31 mi) wide (above sea level). While 84.2 percent of Mauna Loa lies below sea level, its crater, Mokuaweoweo, measures 10.5 km² (4 square mi) and is 150–180 m (500–600 ft) deep. Mauna Loa rises 4,170 m (13,680 ft) and averaged an eruption every 3.6 years from 1831-1950. Its last major eruption came in 1984.
LARGEST ICE CREAM SCOOP PYRAMID
A much less threatening conic-looking treat, Baskin-Robbins International constructed the world's largest ice cream scoop pyramid using 3,100 scoops of ice cream in Maui back in May 2000. The pyramid weighed 800 lb (362.87 kg) and consisted of 21 levels rising 4 ft (1.21 m) high, staying in place for 45 minutes.
LARGEST PERMANENT HEDGE MAZE
Get lost! The world-famous Dole fruit brand owns a plantation in Wahiawa, within which sits the largest permanent hedge maze. The Pineapple Garden Maze boasts a total area of 3.15 acres and total path length of 3.962 km (2.46 miles). The maze first opened in 1997 and expanded in size in July 2007.
LARGEST SPAM MUSUBI
The largest spam musubi weighed 284.86 kg (628 lb) and was made by Edward Sugimoto (USA) and his team at the annual Hawaii Rice Fest in Honolulu on Sept. 29, 2012. The popular Hawaiian snack was created using a recipe that called for 113.398 kg (250 lb) of rice, 59 cans of Spam, and three bags of nori (seaweed). An inexpensive treat, Spam musubi is based on the Japanese omusubi.
LARGEST TOWEL MOSAIC/LONGEST HUMAN TOWEL CHAIN
On a state that's made entirely of islands, towels come in handy. And so, at its 2014 annual employee conference, hotel chain La Quinta Inn & Suites broke two towel-related records: the largest towel mosaic measures 2,451.72 m² (26,389.99 ft²) and was built with the same towels used moments earlier in the longest human towel chain. That consisted of 1,113 participants, both set at the Waikoloa Bowl in Waikoloa Village.
Watch time-lapse of La Quinta's massive record mosaic here.
TALLEST MOUNTAIN
"What?! The tallest mountain is Everest and that's nowhere near Hawaii!"
Actually, Mount Everest is the highest mountain, clocking in at a peak of 8,848 m (29,029 ft). But, when taking into account mountain bases below sea level, Hawaii's Mauna Kea is the world's tallest. Measured from its submarine base in the Hawaiian Trough to its peak, Mauna Kea rises a combined height of 10,205 m (33,480 ft), of which 4,205 m (13,796 ft) are above sea level.
Here's hoping these records come in handy as conversation topics during your next group viewing of Forgetting Sarah Marshall.
And for the latest on all things world record, visit Guinness World Records on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Plus check out Guinness World Records on YouTube to subscribe for the latest record-breaking videos!
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