Hawaii - Day 5, Part 1

I have been back for less than 10 days and this Hawaii vacation seems like a world away...I guess because it is. Back home it's cold and drippy and I have battled a bad cold and eventually won. I just spent a good part of the day sorting through hundreds of photos so that I could print some for a photo book for Kirby, share a lot with my family on Shutterfly, and finish up my blog posts. I am discouraged to find that I have had to edit so many to remove lots of spots. Some were from an outwardly dirty lens (my fault for not paying attention) but others are spots that I can't clean. My camera and lenses need to go to the camera doctor and be cleaned inside. The dirt really shows up with blue sky and ocean landscapes.

Dan had left for home (life of a teacher) on Tuesday night. Chris and Meryl left for home on Wednesday. The rest of us visitors wanted to see what we could of the island before leaving the next morning and still get back to spend the evening with my father-in-law and his wife. We started by driving up the mountain towards the Mauna Kea Observatories, hosting telescopes operated by 11 different countries.

Do you see that white spot on the skyline in the photo? The telescopes are at 13,796 feet above sea level. The mountain itself rises 32,000 feet above the ocean floor. There are a lot more facts and a cool photo of the mountain top at this link. We didn't make it all the way to the top. The visitor center is the recommended stopping point for all 2-wheel drive vehicles, especially rented ones as well as for all children. We had a full day ahead of us without including a trek to the mountain top (beside the fact that we had a toddler with us) so we satisfied ourselves with a look around the visitor center. The other photo shows an array of telescopes that I assume are put into service for special viewing.

Our next stop, a couple of hours away, was Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.

We spent a little time in the visitor center and museum but mostly drove through the park, getting out to look at points of interest......and take photos......a lot of which, unlike most of my exploring/hiking trips were of family. I'm not sure that even amazing, steaming volcanoes can compete with beautiful family pictures...that is, pictures of beautiful family.However there were plenty of other arms to hold Kirby on this adventure so I did try to get some photos of our surroundings, especially of the area of rain-forest where we walked. While much of the Park is more desert like this part of the trail is through lush rainforest.

This had already been a long day for Kirby but she did well in her backpack.This is on the wall to the entrance to the lava tube.Lava tubes are formed as slow moving  lava cools to form walls, but the inner hot lava continues to flow.

Leaving the lava tube.Seen in the parking lot. Should I decide to move to Hawaii, do I have a job waiting for me?Catching a nap before Part 2 of the Blog.