Hawaii 2019 (page 2 of 11)

Start Slide Show
Page: Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next

Day 2

Mike was up around 230 am and Greta slept until almost 7 am. The bedroom is in the back of the condo and not much light gets in, so that’s nice. We tried to go to 808 Grindz for breakfast, but there were only 5 or so tables inside and at least 4 groups waiting to eat. We checked Google and found a couple other places a few minutes away, so we walked up and found Daylight Mind Coffee Company. Mike got a breakfast sandwich with bacon and Greta got a vegetarian breakfast burrito. Both items were very tasty. The coffee was good as well and most importantly – no waiting or line.

We ran over to the Sack & Save grocery store for basic food staples for the next week, and then back to the condo to unload. Then we headed back out to Costco, which didn’t open until 10. We pulled into the parking lot and were amazed at the long line of people waiting to get in – there had to be at least 50 people just waiting for the store to open! Inside, we found a number of familiar items plus a lot of local items or Asian items we don’t see back in MN. We got various snacks and drinks there as well as a big bag of ice.

Then back to the condo until it was time for our stargazing tour. Hawai’i Forest & Trail was right by Costco, so we had a good idea of where we needed to go. Matt was our driver/tour guide and our group of 12 headed out promptly at 2 . We picked up 2 more people on the way, to fill every seat in our Ford mini-bus. Our driver said most of the vehicles are Sprinters, but they were all in the shop – the Ford is the toughest vehicle they had. After picking up dinner at Lava Java, we stopped at 6,000 feet at an old Sheep-shearing station to eat and to get our bodies acclimated to the altitude. We could wander around for a bit among the old buildings (it had not been used since the early 70s)and met up with a 2nd group from the same company. From this location we could see the smoking remains of a wildfire from earlier that week. The Tuesday tour had to be cancelled because the wildfire threatened crossing the only road to the summit, and people would get trapped. One person from that tour (who was from MN) had been on that tour. We also had another person from Alaska in our group who grew up in MN and a couple from the Netherlands! The food choices (ordered ahead of time) were beef short ribs, something with chicken or a vegan curry. Mike & Greta both had the beef and it was excellent. Hawaii is very concerned with being green and sustainability. We drank out of Nalgene bottles(which had to be returned) and our meals were served out of a special plastic reusable container with real silverware. Then we headed up the mountain some more.

Matt kept a running commentary the entire way, explaining the telescopes , the lava , why Mauna Kea was the best place for astronomy, etc. Past the visitor’s station, the paved road ended and a steep uphill that was designated at 4 wheel-drive only. It was a few miles but it was very bumpy and steep. On the steep/bumpy part of the trip, Matt turned off his microphone so he could fully concentrate on driving – we probably wouldn’t have been able to hear him talking anyway.

By the time we got to the top, it was amazing. There are 11 separate big telescopes (the size of houses or bigger) up on the summit, which is nearly 14,000 feet in altitude. There had been snow earlier in the week and nearly everything had a coating of ice on the non-wind side. And the WIND... It was gusting 28-44 MPH and the temp was in the 30s. We had been giving parkas and gloves to wear ahead of time. From there, we leaned into the wind, took a number of pictures, avoided falling ice from the Canada/France telescope, and watched the sunset from above the cloud layer!

Then it was back down the bumpy road for star gazing. Normally, they try do the show at the 12.8K marker (12,800 feet) but due to a pending storm , they were closing the road past the visitor’s center, so we went down to that point for the star show. It was amazing watching the lines of 4WD vehicles (Mainly mini-tour-buses and Jeeps) come down the road.

Matt and the other guide, Geraldo, set up their telescopes . The stars were AMAZING from that viewpoint – there really was no light pollution at all, other than one lighted building nearby and a few vehicles on the road. There were so many stars in the sky, it was a little hard to see the constellations. The Big Dipper was under the horizon, so we couldn’t see that, and the North Star was nearly at the horizon. Cassiopeia , which in MN looks like a giant W, was an M in the Hawaiian sky. We could see Orion’s belt and his knife, but the sky is so different there, and so filled with stars, it was just breathtaking. While waiting for the telescope set up, Mike took some nighttime photography with his new travel tripod. The pictures were very impressive.

Geraldo told us about the stars and the constellations, and tried to point out things with a laser pen. He explained how the Hawaiians first navigated by the stars. And he explained that their constellations were slightly different than those of the Greeks because their viewpoint was different. Both from the angles in the sky and what they know; for example, the early Hawaiians had never seen horses, so obviously they saw something else in the constellation that the Greeks recognized as Pegasus (a winged-horse). Then we got to look through the telescopes to see a few things. Mars was only a dot, but we got to see the fuzzy disc that is the Andromeda Nebula, as well as a great image of the moon. The moon was only a crescent that night, but it was BRIGHT, and it was pointed up (like a smiley-mouth) in the sky.

They fed us hot chocolate and brownies but some people were getting very cold. The drive down the mountain was quiet – a few people dozed even on the bumpy parts. Eventually we got back to where we were picked up and got home sometime after 11.

img_2664.jpg 02/08/19 11:45:00 (large image)	img_7111.jpg 02/08/19 13:21:32 (large image)	img_7112.jpg 02/08/19 13:21:52 (large image)	img_7113.jpg 02/08/19 13:22:06 (large image)	img_7114.jpg 02/08/19 13:22:48 (large image)
img_7115.jpg 02/08/19 13:23:54 (large image)	img_7116.jpg 02/08/19 13:24:22 (large image)	img_7117.jpg 02/08/19 13:24:54 (large image)	img_7118.jpg 02/08/19 13:25:36 (large image)	img_7119.jpg 02/08/19 13:25:48 (large image)
img_7121.jpg 02/08/19 13:27:56 (large image)	img_7122.jpg 02/08/19 13:28:26 (large image)	img_7123.jpg 02/08/19 13:29:14 (large image)	img_7124.jpg 02/08/19 13:30:20 (large image)	img_7125.jpg 02/08/19 13:30:42 (large image)
img_7126.jpg 02/08/19 13:31:06 (large image)	img_0569.jpg 02/08/19 16:59:00 (large image)	img_0570.jpg 02/08/19 16:59:16 (large image)	img_0573.jpg 02/08/19 17:00:10 (large image)	img_0574.jpg 02/08/19 17:01:08 (large image)
img_0575.jpg 02/08/19 17:01:28 (large image)	img_0576.jpg 02/08/19 17:01:56 (large image)	img_7127.jpg 02/08/19 17:02:04 (large image)	img_7128.jpg 02/08/19 17:02:18 (large image)	img_0577.jpg 02/08/19 17:02:20 (large image)
img_7129.jpg 02/08/19 17:02:44 (large image)	img_7131.jpg 02/08/19 17:03:06 (large image)	img_0578.jpg 02/08/19 17:03:30 (large image)	img_0579.jpg 02/08/19 17:03:56 (large image)	img_7133.jpg 02/08/19 17:03:56 (large image)
img_7134.jpg 02/08/19 17:04:42 (large image)	img_7135.jpg 02/08/19 17:06:02 (large image)	img_0582.jpg 02/08/19 17:06:14 (large image)	img_7136.jpg 02/08/19 17:06:16 (large image)	img_0584.jpg 02/08/19 17:07:00 (large image)
img_7137.jpg 02/08/19 17:07:00 (large image)	img_7138.jpg 02/08/19 17:07:12 (large image)	img_0585.jpg 02/08/19 17:07:15 (large image)	img_7139.jpg 02/08/19 17:07:46 (large image)	img_0587.jpg 02/08/19 17:08:20 (large image)
img_0588.jpg 02/08/19 17:08:42 (large image)	img_7141.jpg 02/08/19 17:09:08 (large image)	img_7142.jpg 02/08/19 17:13:02 (large image)	img_7143.jpg 02/08/19 17:13:48 (large image)	img_0589.jpg 02/08/19 17:41:22 (large image)
img_0590.jpg 02/08/19 17:42:34 (large image)	img_0591.jpg 02/08/19 17:43:14 (large image)	img_0592.jpg 02/08/19 17:44:34 (large image)	img_0593.jpg 02/08/19 17:45:32 (large image)	img_0594.jpg 02/08/19 17:46:02 (large image)
img_0597.jpg 02/08/19 17:47:28 (large image)	img_0598.jpg 02/08/19 17:47:48 (large image)	img_0599.jpg 02/08/19 17:48:32 (large image)	img_0600.jpg 02/08/19 17:48:50 (large image)	img_0601.jpg 02/08/19 17:49:52 (large image)
img_0602.jpg 02/08/19 17:50:16 (large image)	img_0603.jpg 02/08/19 17:50:40 (large image)	img_0604.jpg 02/08/19 17:52:30 (large image)	img_0605.jpg 02/08/19 17:52:48 (large image)	img_7144.jpg 02/08/19 18:06:34 (large image)
img_7146.jpg 02/08/19 18:06:46 (large image)	img_7147.jpg 02/08/19 18:06:48 (large image)	img_7148.jpg 02/08/19 18:07:06 (large image)	img_7149.jpg 02/08/19 18:07:18 (large image)	img_0606.jpg 02/08/19 18:20:34 (large image)
img_0608.jpg 02/08/19 18:20:54 (large image)	img_0609.jpg 02/08/19 18:20:58 (large image)	img_0610.jpg 02/08/19 18:21:16 (large image)	img_0612.jpg 02/08/19 18:21:36 (large image)	img_0613.jpg 02/08/19 18:22:02 (large image)
img_0614.jpg 02/08/19 18:22:18 (large image)	img_0615.jpg 02/08/19 18:22:26 (large image)	img_7150.jpg 02/08/19 18:23:56 (large image)	img_7151.jpg 02/08/19 18:24:06 (large image)	img_0618.jpg 02/08/19 18:24:08 (large image)
img_7152.jpg 02/08/19 18:24:32 (large image)	img_0619.jpg 02/08/19 18:24:34 (large image)	img_7153.jpg 02/08/19 18:24:34 (large image)	img_7154.jpg 02/08/19 18:24:58 (large image)	img_7156.jpg 02/08/19 18:25:10 (large image)
img_7157.jpg 02/08/19 18:25:16 (large image)	img_0620.jpg 02/08/19 18:25:48 (large image)	img_0622.jpg 02/08/19 18:26:38 (large image)	img_0623.jpg 02/08/19 18:26:52 (large image)	img_7159.jpg 02/08/19 18:26:54 (large image)
img_7160.jpg 02/08/19 18:26:58 (large image)	img_7161.jpg 02/08/19 18:27:08 (large image)	img_0625.jpg 02/08/19 18:27:34 (large image)	img_7162.jpg 02/08/19 18:27:38 (large image)	img_0626.jpg 02/08/19 18:28:10 (large image)
img_0627.jpg 02/08/19 18:28:42 (large image)	img_0628.jpg 02/08/19 18:29:32 (large image)	img_7164.jpg 02/08/19 18:30:34 (large image)	img_7165.jpg 02/08/19 18:30:36 (large image)	img_7166.jpg 02/08/19 18:31:30 (large image)
img_7167.jpg 02/08/19 18:31:44 (large image)	img_7168.jpg 02/08/19 18:32:42 (large image)	img_7170.jpg 02/08/19 18:33:50 (large image)	img_7172.jpg 02/08/19 18:34:04 (large image)	img_7182.jpg 02/08/19 19:27:40 (large image)
img_7183.jpg 02/08/19 19:29:52 (large image)	img_7185.jpg 02/08/19 19:37:26 (large image)	img_7188.jpg 02/08/19 19:41:44 (large image)	img_7190.jpg 02/08/19 20:20:38 (large image)	img_7193.jpg 02/08/19 20:23:36 (large image)
img_7195.jpg 02/08/19 20:27:36 (large image)

Page: Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Next

Start Slide Show