Here's what Laine wrote to her webmaster, Keith Norris, one day in April 1997:
"This e-mail is not meant to address anything specifically . It is meant to try to tell you how beautiful Hawaii is - because this is what I would like our site to show. Hawaii is not called Paradise for nothing. I have been to the Caribbean Islands but they don't compare to Hawaii- mostly because of the diversity of the Hawaiian islands.There is everything here and the colors are incredible:
This, in addition to the 'Hawaiian' people and their culture is what I think we should strive to portray on our site. The first Polynesians landed on Big Island around 500 AD (or earlier) from the Marquesas - can you imagine - sailing all that way in an outrigger canoe! That's another thing, Hawaii's texture is nature - sand, wood, bone, stone, shells, feathers - very natural things.
- tropical rain forests with huge tropical trees and leaves, and roots that grow above ground that you can live inside (literally);
- magnificent bamboo forests, Eucalyptus trees with rainbow trunks, Jacaranda trees with blue blossoms;
- black - green - red - yellow - white sand beaches. One of the photos we just sent you was of me standing on a black sand beach - I had to get off it right after the photo was taken as the beach was 'brand new' ie. it was still warm (and not from the sun) and hadn't yet settled - it had just erupted out of the sea on Big Island! It was glistening - shiny black! ;
- magnificent rainbows over the valleys - often double rainbows;
- deserts of sand and deserts of ropey lava which make wild patterns on a stark landscape;
- some of the most beautiful (and most endangered) sea creatures in the the world - whales, dolphins, green sea turtles, seals, manta rays, and all the wonderful reef fish with their brilliant colors;
- magnificent ranch lands (like the Parker Ranch on Big Island or Ulupalakua on Maui);
- some of the highest waves in the world - 30 ft. and more - unbelievable!
- shoreline where the ocean crashes onto the burning hot sands to the most peaceful beaches - with crystal clear aquamarine water over beautiful coral reefs;
- stars that are so huge you could pull them out of the sky;
- milky ways that mesmerize you;
- sunsets that you would die for;
- sunrises where you think the sun is so big it is going to take over the world;
- wild scenery with nothing but pineapple and sugar cane fields growing out of rich clay dirt (incredible color);
- beautiful plants with wonderful colors and designs - plumeria, orchids, ginger, bougainvillea, heliconia, silversword - so many.....;
- birds with the most brilliant colors (cardinals with bright red breasts) to the most gentle colors (doves and egrets);
- breathtaking scenery - from wild coastlines (like the Hebrides), incredible sea cliffs (Molokai has the highest sea cliffs on earth) to some of the world's greatest natural wonders like Hawaii's Volcanoes National Park. (There is even snow on top of Big Island's Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea - Tom and I had a snowball fight on the summit of Mauna Kea and people ski there.)
- blue, blue sky with puffy white clouds, each and every day!
It is a very beautiful place and I think our site should contain all these colors jumping out of a black background - they may have a border around them or something but essentially its like putting this incredible color into the darkness of the universe."