Stargazing on Tuesday

A week ago yesterday, we arrived home from our trip to Hawaii. I'm sad that Tuesday's adventures were almost two weeks ago! The third full day of our vacation started as a relaxing one.

My mom and dad got up early for yoga, and Ross and I took a sunrise walk and watched surfers. The surf was coming in and LOTS of people were intent on taking advantage of it.

Unfortunately, that also meant that the novices among us were not allowed in the water. No equipment rental, lessons, or snorkeling allowed. I spent part of the morning pouting about this. It was aggravating being so close to the water but not being in it! To be fair, we could wade in the shallow water, but it was just cool enough that you had to really be moving to stay warm once you got wet.

All morning I kept thinking: how cool would it be to be a surfer? Your only job would be to find employment that will allow you to make enough money to support this hobby which, I imagine, is much cheaper than some other hobbies such as skiing or SCUBA diving once you own the board (and, of course, if you already live in Hawaii). Wouldn't it be wonderful to organize your life so that when the weather is perfect, you could drop everything and spend all day doing something that you love?! And I think it's so cool that every wave is different. Unlike running on a trail, surfers literally have a different experience every time they go out-- not just slightly different scenery.

Realistically, I know this would be an anxiety-provoking lifestyle for me... living hand-to-mouth year-round. And what if *gasp* you had to work on the one day the waves really came in? So yeah. Maybe not the life for me, but nice to think about nonetheless. It's always fun to see passion in action.

Tuesday morning left me with a desire to find an outdoor passion that allows me to interact with and find joy in nature. I really enjoyed just being active and outdoors this vacation.

Iced Kona coffee with mom and dad. A good way to start the day!

After these (not so profound) musings, I settled for some pool time in the sunshine. I swam a few laps and enjoyed the long lap lane. Much more fun than turning around every 25 meters. Once my dad was out of his meeting, we all met up and piled into the car. After a quick pit-stop for a picnic dinner and some green juice for me, we headed out. Destination? The tallest mountain in the world.

To be fair, Mauna Kea makes this claim by measuring from the sea floor. When measured from its true base, this dormant volcano is 33,500 feet tall, although it only rises 13,796 feet above sea level. In comparison, Mount Everest certainly has the highest elevation at 29,035 feet above sea level.

 There are 13 climate zones in the world and 11 of them can be found in Hawaii... many of them as you wind your way up this mountain. These include tropical rainforest (which we started to see when we went up to about 1,000 feet to see the coffee plantation on Sunday), dessert, and finally permafrost at the peak of Mauna Kea.

prairie-- doesn't look like 'Hawaii'

We didn't venture to the true peak-- that required a 4-wheel drive and time to acclimate. Instead, we drove to the visitor's station at 9,000 feet. We watched the outside temperature drop steadily as we drove up in elevation, and the landscapes did vary radically and quickly.

pine forest

approaching the lowest clouds

sunshine above the cloud line

cattle grazing over a mile above sea level

When we reached the visitor's center, we walked around for a minute and then quickly decided to hike up the biggest hill nearby to watch the sunset. For a few minutes, we had the hill to ourselves. And what a view!

Ross and Dad on the way up

The view from the top of the 'hill' on the mountain

Other people eventually had the same idea, though, so once it got crowded we sat down to eat. Food always tastes better when you've worked for it! It also arguably tastes better in fresh air because this deli counter meal of curried broccoli salad, mandarin orange and beet salad, taro chips, and tuna musubi was so good.

Then we settled in to watch the sun set above the cloudline.

There are no words, but "this is where heaven and earth collide."

Ross liked this picture the best!

Dad and Mom bundled up

With the last remaining bit of twilight, we hiked back down to the visitor's center to look at the stars.

Apparently 9,000 feet is just about the perfect location for viewing stars with the naked eye. You're above the cloud line and the atmosphere thins just enough that the stars are clear (apparently atmosphere is what makes them 'twinkle' when we usually look at them). Yet the atmosphere isn't so thin that our retinal cells are starved for oxygen. Pretty cool! To boot, the Big Island actually has some pretty strict lighting laws in place per the Mauna Kea astronomers. The observatory couldn't get really good funding unless the island complied. Looking at the stars without light pollution is a very rare experience.

telescope picture taken much earlier in the evening

There was a volunteer astronomer there with a big telescope set up allowing us to see a few things up close. Once it got darker, he pointed out a number of stars and constellations with a fantastically strong laser pointer. We saw stars whose circumference is bigger than the entire orbit of many planets in our solar system and others who may have burnt out years ago and we wouldn't know because their light takes so long to travel to earth.

We did get lost on the way home (poor lighting does have its downside, but poor road signage doesn't help). But it was worth it. Definitely a once-in-a-lifetime experience!

Monday on the Water

Last Monday dawned sunny and glorious in Hawaii and we were all up pretty early because of the time change. I was excited to head to the beach first thing! [Disclaimer: When I look at the pictures on my camera from last Monday, I feel like it should be called "me" day. In my defense, Ross cut his foot on some coral pretty early on and it wouldn't stop bleeding, so he was content sitting on the beach and decided to take a lot of pictures, apparently. My mom took a pool day and my dad was in a meeting all day.]

The day started perfectly with floating yoga. That's yoga on a paddleboard anchored in shallow water. It's challenging at first, but by the second class I was ready to try a few more challenging moves. Planks were especially fun! I'd never heard of floating yoga before the trip, but now I wish every day could start with a relaxing practice bobbing on clear water, with sea turtles below and the sun warming your shoulders as it rises over the mountain!

After that, we went to my Dad's Board meeting breakfast and met all his compadres, which was fun. And breakfast on the beach is never a bad thing.

Ross and I spend the rest of the morning learning how to paddleboard. He cut his foot pretty early on, though, so being a loving and attentive wife I helped him bandage it up and then I left him alone so I could take surf lessons. Oops.

But. I'm SO glad I did it! The instructor and I headed out to where the waves were breaking (not far from shore) and he basically told me where to put my feet and he pushed my board into an oncoming wave. I didn't catch that one, but I did catch the next one remarkably easily. (I don't mean to make that sound self-righteous. I actually mean that it's surprisingly easy to stand up on the board with the wave's momentum holding it. Easier than standing on a paddleboard the first time.)

However, as the wave pushed toward shore, I quickly realized the instructor hadn't told me what to do next. So I leaned sideways and fell off on purpose. Bad idea. We were in very shallow water by then and I got slammed by a few waves before I was able to paddle back out! Apparently the correct thing to do is just to calmly sit back down on your board.

Speaking of paddling back out, that was the hardest part. The beginner's surfboard was wide and I was basically trying to propel myself against the current with the use of my wrists and hands. My arms wore out fast, as did the skin on my abdomen from being rubbed raw.

But it was worth it. One hour of unimaginable fun! I attempted 11 waves and caught 6! Granted, they were tiny waves and I couldn't control such a big board very well. But I never thought I'd take surf lessons and now I want to save up for our next tropical vacation to do more of it!

While we were waiting for waves, my instructor was telling me how he was raised in Waipio Valley in a family of surfers and fire dancers. He said his uncles just took him out one day and he learned how to surf in 2 days when he was 6 years old.

How cool would it be to have such a sense of place? Identity, sense of purpose, I guess these are all things I'm looking for and I really envied him that. Well that, and the fact that he was born and raised in Hawaii! It's cool how people here seem to be judged by what the know (like the knowledgeable coffee farm tour guide) or their abilities (surfers), and not how they dress or do their hair or wear their clothes. I'm sure those are vacation ideals speaking and I by no means saw the day-to-day Hawaiian life, but still. It's very different from, say, New York City. Very refreshing.

After that adventure, we all ate some lunch and took some down time. I was worn out! But eventually I missed the sunshine and Ross and I ventured back out for a quick bike ride before dinner.

The sun sets like clockwork here so after our ride I booked it to a nearby cove and got some pictures.

I'm pretty sure those sunsets would never get old. After that stunning show, Ross and I ate dinner with my parents at Norio, the resort's sushi restaurant.

*

I ordered a salmon skin roll, but the highlight of the meal was definitely the Fairmont roll, which we ordered to share: tuna, cucumber, avocado, green onion, sesame seeds, and honey miso aioli. With raw fish, I can take it or leave it. But oh, freshness makes all the difference. This was positively buttery without even a hint of 'fishiness.' I could go for another right now!

Good food, good company, and a very good night's sleep following the day's excitement!

Sunday: Kona Coffee and Dinner

I forgot how much ground we covered on Sunday until I started looking back at the pictures! After the second historical stop, we drove to the town of Kona for lunch. I'm now convinced we need a Taco Del Mar in Kansas City! It was kind of like the Chipotle of tacos. Except they don't charge extra for guac if you order a meatless meal. But I digress.

 After lunch we continued south, inland, and up in elevation to Hula Daddy Coffee Farm. Only coffee from the North and South Kona districts can be called Kona Coffee. Picking season had just ended, but we got to tour the farm regardless.

During the growing season, coffee is harvested as "cherries" and then dried and roasted in a seemingly infinite variety of ways to produce different flavors.

Mom modeling a picking basket

sorting table to make sure only the perfectly ripe berries are chosen

Roaster

There are plenty of coffee plantations in the area, but Hula Daddy was the only one offering tours on Sunday. It actually turned out to be a stroke of luck because the company, while not certified organic, is extremely conscientious and the staff was outstanding. To boot, several of their coffees have been very highly rated. The girl giving the tour actually went ahead and brewed a pot of each of the coffees that she talked about because my dad was asking so many questions. Peaberry, oli, sweet... who knew there were so many different types of coffee? And that I'd actually be able to drink them black and taste the difference?

My dad ended up with a bag of Peaberry with beans that were picked the previous month and roasted about 3 weeks before we bought them. I may need to invest in a french press and a coffee grinder now!

After drinking a lot of coffee, we headed down the mountain to eat dinner at Sam Choy's. Of course, we made it a point to eat outside and watch the sunset again. Perfect dining environment in which to enjoy our buttery fish cooked in plantain leaves. Another great ending to a great day.