Wednesday, August 17
Today we started off out at the pool, where we sampled our first Island Flows, which are essentially pina colada with flavored syrup added in.
After our morning pool time, we drove to nearby Waikoloa Village to do some souvenir shopping. We found some great items, including Hawaiian lava salt. For lunch, we decided to stop at Merriman's Market Cafe. Michelle ordered the BLT (probably because of the amazing bacon she had at the other Merriman's) and in keeping with the feasting we'd done so far, some parmesan truffle fries. These were probably the best fries we'd ever had. Oily, but not too oily, smoky, yet crispy and so delicious. Spying the gelato cart outside the cafe, also run by Merriman's we decided to close with a scoop of gelato, which was well worth it. It was amazing!
After our lunchtime feast, we located some sandwiches at the Whalers General Store to take with us for our trip to the Mauna Kea summit. The summit is the highest point in the State of Hawaii, and measued from its base, is actually the tallest mountain in the world. It is also a volcano. Luckily, it last erupted 4,000 to 6,000 years ago.
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| The cloud layer below the Mauna Kea summit, with the summit road just visable below. |
The drive to the summit was truly breathtaking. About halfway up, we drove through a cloud layer, which was eerily cool. When we drove up past the cloud cover, the air was clear, dry, and much, much colder. We think the temperature difference was at least 40 degrees between the summit and sea level. When we reached our destination, the Mauna Kea Visitors Center, the sun was about to set, so we grabbed our gear and ascended a nearby hill to watch the sun set.
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| Michelle near the summit of Mauna Kea, with the peak of nearby Maui poking through the clouds in the background. |
We ascended the small hill very slowly. The air was so thin that we began to experience altitude sickness, our hearts began racing and we were short of breath - quite scary at first, but ultimately it was worth it. We saw an amazing array of oranges, reds, blues, and purples as the sun went down over the horizon. We also got a fantastic view of the cloud blanket below.
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| Michelle and Jerry awaiting the sunset near the Mauna Kea Visitor Center. |
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| Sunset from Mauna Kea. |
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| Jerry getting the shot of the sunset posted above. |
Once it got dark, we made our way back to the Visitor Center and gift shop so we could participate in the free stargazing session, put on by the University of Hawaii. Thankfully, the gift shop also sold hot chocolate, which Michelle credits with keeping her warm. We also noticed that the building itself was eerily lit in red lighting. This is done to limit the light pollution that affects the telescopes at the summit. We also found out that this state law is the reason that all the street lights on the big island only emit yellow-tinted light. It allows the telescopes on Mauna Kea to filter out this specific light frequency.
Outside the Visitor Center, there were about eight telescopes tracking different points in the night sky. They were staffed by very helpful and informative astronomers from the University. Michelle looked through one and was stunned to see Saturn, with the distinct outline of its famous rings clearly visible through the telescope. After we each got a good look at Saturn, we were given a tour of the night sky by one of the astronomers. The sky was completely blanketed with stars. The astronomer pointed out the thick band of stars crossing the horizon as the Milky Way and told us that it takes our planet about 200 million years to make its way around that band. This blew our minds. He also pointed out a faint glow visible off in the distance which was caused by light reflecting off of dust in outer space along with the inner planets in our solar system. This again blew our minds. It was a truly enlightening experience! We were able to clearly see stars we can barely make out at home and for that reason, it was one of our favorite parts of the trip.
