Michigan!

I arrived in Michigan yesterday morning feeling pretty tired. 10 hours or so in flight, no sleep for 24 hours! yuk. I wish I had some of the sweet-ass pictures I could have taken of Molokai, but the camera would only focus on the plane engine so I have none. I will be posting some pretty plant pics soon!

Hamakua Drive

I took the opportunity today to drive the Hamakua Coast (north - windward side) on the Big Island. That way I got out from under the watchful of the kitchen staff at HP and got out of my reading chair.


Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate until I got to Laupahoehoe, so most of my pictures are from there. It was raining pretty much the whole way to Laupahoehoe and then all the way to Waimea as well.


I was surprised how fast the trip went! I didn't get on the road til about 1230, and then I was hungry so I stopped in Hilo for lunch (NOT easy to find a place to eat on a Sunday - go figure), and then got back on the road around 230. I was in Waimea by 4 even with construction and rain!



I thought about going back up to HP before sunset, so as to catch it from there, but I knew I'd miss dinner and Dave and Christian would already be up at the summit, so I got dinner at the Italian place in Waimea (fair) and then headed up. Good thing I brought my book!


Sunset was really pretty and Haleakala was out.











Last shot coming up Mauna Kea road. I almost didn't stop to take this one cause I didn't think it would come out.. but good thing I did!

Thanks for lending me one of those fancy cameras Dave =)

In The Clouds

Dave and I are on top of Mauna Kea. We got here yesterday and have been enjoying ourselves. Dave is making timelapses and working (of course), and I am relaxing - reading, drinking myself some Ju Hua tea... eating... you know, my favorite stuff.
Mostly, I'm thinking about all the stuff I will be trying to get in during my month in Michigan which starts WEDNESDAY!!!! Crazy that it got here so fast! I also just bought myself some tix home for xmas.. first time since 2004. Winter will be an interesting experience - especially since last tim I was home in July I was wearing pants the whole time. How crazy is that?!

I Stole These From Brittany...

I went to a AAS after party with Anne and Brittany.. It was interesting on more levels than I will be able to describe.!
Gwen, Anne, and I making trouble on the dance floor..











Anne and I trying to find our groove.
















Brittany, Anne, and me














Gimme a few drinks and I think I have all the moves...


















Brittany's infamous corner... I love how Anne laughs so hard her face contorts!

















Me, Josh, Brits, Anne, and Brandon!

Kayak!

Sean, Dave, and I met Rahul, Ashish, and Kathy at Lanikai yesterday for a beach/kayak adventure day.




It could not have been a more perfect day! The water was ridiculously warm, the air was clear so
we could see Molokai, no hateful wind... What more could you want?



We paddled out to the Mokulua Islands (I got to sucker Sean into letting me paddle) and walked around to the back. We saw lots of salt crystallizing out of evaporating ocean water and some crazy-ass fish living in the hyper-saline water.


The island looks like it's made from a number of dikes intruding into some other flows.. but my geo brain is faded, so maybe Dave will have more to say about this. Either way, it's crazy looking.

The cliffs were totally out with no clouds dirtying their slopes - it made for quite the view! When we got back to the front of the island Dave and I snorkeled and saw lots of sea cucumbers. Sean went out after us and was very excited about fluorescent Hawaiian fish.


When we got back to Lanikai, Aren had shown up with Kona. It was crazy seeing such a giant dog on the beach. He does love swim-fetch. Later Erin and Tanner came out and we took Tanner out on the kayak. He thought it was pretty cool and didn't want to go back to the beach.

After the beach we all met up at Rahul's for a crazy huge BBQ. Many astro-kids showed up surprisingly, but DnA, Alicia, Erin, Aren, and Tanner, Dave, Sean, and I out lasted the others and had a late night pool/hot tub session. I barely made it to the car and almost got swallowed up by Rahul's futon. Great day!

Anne!

Anne was here for AAS when we got back from California!

I was initially tentative about our connection,
which I think she would have called me out on if
I hadn't offered it up after remembering how much I liked her (it took about 5 minutes) when Dave and I met up with her and Brittany at Magoo's about a week ago. Of course hilarity ensued, as it always does when I spend time with Anne, I just have so much fun I want to lock her in my bathroom and never let her go home.


We stole her and brought her up to the North Shore last weekend for fire twirling and a BBQ at Billy and Dawn's.

Anne displayed amazing patience while she showed Sierra a tricky way to tie her shoes (shure to impress the boys in about 10-15 years, right Anne?) and joined me as a living canvas for Amber and Sierra while Dave, Billy, and Dawn hacked up the neighbor's yard.


Dave left last Sunday morning and I filled the gap with Anne staying with me until yesterday. We had copious amount of girl talk and were unable to keep ourselves from having a ridiculous amount of fun no matter what we were doing.


I'm hoping to trick her into coming to Michigan for the
last week of July!