Big Island Trip: Banyans, Kua Bay, and Mauna Kea

The Housemate and I took a week-long summer vacation on the Big Island in July. We stayed with his brother, who lives in Kailua-Kona with his wife and two little children.

Our first day there, the swell was good, so the Housemate took the opportunity to go surfing with his brother. The beach wasn't good for swimming, though, so the rest of us just hung out on the beach under a shady tree.

The Housemate's four-year-old nephew collects rocks and coral bits by the water.


A turtle! Shame it didn't put its head above the water, but I think it's still recognizable.


The second day, we went to a beach that was great for swimming: Kua Bay Beach Park. The sand is soft and light, and the water is the perfect, glittering, crystal-clear green the brochures tell you it's supposed to be.


While the Housemate's nephew liked to stay on the beach, running in and out of the gently crashing waves, his 18-month-old niece LOVED boogie boarding with her father.


She was having a great time there.


That night, we went to the Mauna Kea Observatory Visitor Center. On top of the 14,000-ft (4200-m) volcano sits a collection of powerful telescopes that capture important astronomical images. Those telescopes, though, don't have eyepieces and instead feed directly into computers. So aside from appreciating how large the telescopes are, there isn't much to see at the peak. Furthermore, at 14,000 ft, people acclimated to sea level would likely find themselves impaired by the thin air--not able to see straight, feeling ill, and such. Thus, the visitor center sits down the mountain at a comfortable 9000 ft.

9000 ft (2750 m) is still quite high. While at sea level in Kona the temperature was around 80F (27C), at the Visitor Center it was about 49F (9C). This is REALLY cold by Hawaii standards--in Honolulu, a day that doesn't pass 75F is cold, and a night that dips below 65F is downright freezing. Luckily we'd seen on their website how cold it would be, and I wore the warmest clothes I'd brought: a light sweatshirt and jeans. I would have preferred a fleece jacket. Needless to say, the gift shop there made an absolute killing on Cup O'Noodles and hot chocolate mix.

The presentation someone made (armed with powerful laser pointer) was a bit disappointing, concentrating on pointing out the constellations in the zodiac rather than providing interesting astronomical information (the one exception: an explanation of Omega Centauri). But they had about a dozen telescopes set up and focused on various interesting things in the night sky. I tried to snap a few photos with my camera, but given the difficulty of lining up the shots, and the fact that there were often people waiting in a line behind me, I didn't get that many. Here are a couple:

Guess which planet this is. Through the telescope, we could see maybe four of its moons, but the camera only got the rings. Still recognizable, though.


Moon so bright.


Less exposed, so you can see the detail a bit better.


I'm not sure I'm anxious to go back to the Mauna Kea Observatory, but I'm glad I went. I wish that the staff there were a bit more knowledgeable, but I saw some cool things, and they had interesting videos playing inside the building. It makes a good evening trip.

Coming up next: The best photos from our trip, which came the next day when we hiked into Waipio Valley.

Back to Big Island Trip master link page

I'm in Kona!

Here, they just call it coffee.

Actually I've still heard people call it Kona coffee here, but it seems like it should be that way. Yesterday had quite a lot of vog--that is, fog from the volcanoes--but the weather was nice. The Housemate and I are visiting his brother, who lives in Kailua-Kona with his wife and two kids. The kids are adorable, though the 4-year-old son is a bit of a handful. We've been eating very, very well. I'm kind of in heaven...the wife cooks a lot. She's Indonesian, so she cooks great Indonesian food, but we've also had homemade pizza, beef stew, and crepes every morning.

I had an amazing time here on the Big Island last summer. I'll be taking tons of photos again, but this time I'll also be scuba diving, now that I have my certification. Hopefully that means I'll have even better underwater pics to share from my underwater camera. But I'm pretty busy until I get back late next week, so probably no posts until next weekend. Aloha!

Back to Big Island Trip master link page

The best Valentine, not the best Valentine's Day

Some of you may recall that I had my first real Valentine's Day last year, which was wonderful. Last year, Valentine's Day fell on a Sunday, so the Housemate and I had a leisurely breakfast that he cooked, drove around the island in perfect Hawaii weather, then enjoyed a delicious meal at what is possibly the best restaurant I've ever been to.

This year's Valentine's Day was less than ideal. First of all, it fell on a Monday, which is generally the worst day of the week. We had cereal for breakfast, though I did open up a passion fruit I had been letting ripen for a while and it was sweet and tart and delicious. Then I had to go into school for a morning class. Don't tell my advisor, but I spent my early afternoon drawing my boyfriend a Valentine (I need some colored pencils or something; I did this entirely with a black pen). Front, inside left, and back:

Because he just came back from Antarctica, and he studies viruses, see? He complimented me on the accuracy of my Adelie penguins, so I was pretty pleased with myself.

We left school around 4pm, had a nap, exchanged a couple gifts, and just had a very nice late afternoon/early evening together. Then we got ready for our dinner reservation. In spite of it being a Monday and a work day, Valentine's Day had been pretty nice so far.

Our reservation was at 8:30. We got there at 8:30. It was a zoo. For 5-10 minutes, there was no clear host or hostess. We finally figured out whom to ask about our reservation, but when we told her we were there for our reservation, she just asked our name, how many people, and wrote it on a list. She was doing the same thing for people who did and didn't have reservations. And I even noticed her seating one pair whose name was after ours on the list. It was hugely unorganized, and this lady was also acting as cashier and waitress, so she was running around crazy. I was annoyed, but patient. As long as the dinner was good, it would be worth it.

We finally got seated shortly after 9, as four or more tables cleared up suddenly at the same time. The food was pretty good--not as good as Roy's last year, but nice. Corn chowder as the soup course, Laotian spring rolls and a salad as an appetizer, and fisherman's pot pie for an entree (seafood and vegetables and lots of pleasantly spicy gravy spooned out between two layers of puff pastry). But some time around the entree course, my stomach started feeling pretty uncomfortable. Before dessert, I had to excuse myself to the ladies' room...

The desserts were really why I'd chosen this restaurant in the first place, as they have a lovely selection of beautiful French pastries. I'd been there once before for dessert and their hot chocolate, which was rich and made with real chocolate--the best I'd had since Paris. So when I got back, we ordered our pastries (I got the chocolate macaroon one, and the Housemate got the banana haupia one) and one hot chocolate. But when the hot chocolate came, it was paler than coffee ice cream. I sent it back saying it wasn't chocolaty enough, and the waitress brought it back later, this time a dark brown, but it still just tasted like it was made with normal cocoa powder. I was really disappointed since I'd raved about the rich chocolate to the Housemate when we ordered it. Not sure what went wrong there. The desserts were delicious, but I could hardly eat them because my stomach was feeling unstable. So I had mine put in a box, and we went home. At least I can look forward to eating it tonight.

It was 11:30 by this point (dinner took a long time), so we got home and got ready for bed. But after I brushed my teeth, I threw up. Everything. It would have been a miserable end to a miserable evening if not for my boyfriend. He was very sweet and comforting the whole evening, the perfect company for Valentine's Day. And when I got in bed he gave me a back massage. Yes, things could have been better, but they could have been much worse. I was happy.

The Housemate is back!

Just an update -

I got back from my research cruise on Thursday afternoon. It was amazing, I had a lot of fun, we saw some beautiful sights, and I ate a ton of really delicious and impressive food. I will definitely be writing some posts on the cruise in the near future, once I find time to go through all the photos I took.

The Housemate finally came back from Antarctica on Friday afternoon, having left so long ago on October 26. I drove to the airport to pick him up, and I have to say that it was actually a little weird when I saw him--like my brain didn't quite believe he was really there, and not just video chatting with me again. Also I had asked him to grow out his beard so I could see and feel it when he came home, so when he climbed in the car I wasn't sure how to go about kissing him. Too. Much. Hair. But that initial strangeness aside, I am now very happy to have him back. And the beard is gone.

In addition to writing about my cruise, I need to catch up on everyone's blogs because I didn't read too many posts when I was on the boat. But first I need to catch up on school work. I did a little homework on the ship though not enough, and I have lectures I missed to go through the notes for and a lot of reading to do. So things will get back to normal at some point, but the next week or so will be pretty busy. I promise I'll catch up with all of you eventually.

Housemate in Antarctica photos: Scenery

Aside from having some amazing animals, Antarctica has breathtaking scenery.

A glacier out behind the station that people there like to hike up.


Scientists on a boat going by the glacier.


Sunset (some time around midnight) casts a gorgeous glow on the glacier.


Sunset lights the sky over the Antarctic waters and mountains.


I hope someday to be able to go to Antarctica and see its beautiful landscapes and remarkable animals myself. But it was really nice having a friend there. I was always impressed with the photos he sent me, and thanks to video chat I got to see some live video feed of penguins, seals, glaciers, and Antarctic sunsets. Video conferencing with the penguins. Almost like being there.

Well that's all for the Antarctica photos. I hope you enjoyed them as much as I did. Sorry again about my paranoid watermarks. I'm back from my cruise now, so I'll be playing catch up for a bit, then I'll return you to my regularly scheduled blog posts and tweeting. Not that I have a regular schedule or anything, but uh...yeah. See you around!

Housemate in Antarctica photos: Other animals

Though the Housemate took lots of penguin photos, there are of course lots of animals in Antarctica that aren't penguins.

The infamous leopard seal.

The Housemate told me that one time a huge leopard seal stuck its head up right next to a small boat he was on (see the next photo for what the boat probably looked like). He leaned in to get a better look, to the point that his co-worker had to pull him back because he was getting too close. But the Housemate said that it was so cute, just like a big puppy dog. I said, "Yeah, a puppy dog that could drag you down underwater and drown you." I was not pleased by the story, but it was kind of cute. As long as he promised not to get to close to the leopard seals again, even if they do look like giant puppies. It turns out there have been very few human deaths caused by leopard seals, but still, no reason to give them another opportunity.

Humpback whale!

It could just knock over the boat if it wanted.

This bird is a skua, which came up in my last post.


On Friday: Antarctica photos without animals as their subjects. There will be glaciers.

Housemate in Antarctica photos: Penguins!

As I've mentioned before on numerous occasions, my boyfriend has been in Antarctica since October doing research for his PhD. While I've missed him like crazy, one of the perks of him being there is that he sends me awesome photos he's taken. Sometimes he even takes his computer out so I can video chat with the penguins and seals around the station. So I get to live vicariously a little through him. He's taken some pretty excellent photos, so I figured I'd share a few of them with you.

(Apologies for the watermarks. I don't care so much about my own photos, but these aren't mine, and I'm finding myself a little paranoid about them. I tried my best to be both obnoxious and unobtrusive...yeah, it was kind of difficult.)

Even though they can be found many places throughout the southern hemisphere, you can't help associating penguins with Antarctica. Four species of penguins nest in Antarctica, but unfortunately the most famous of the four, the majestic emperor penguin, does not nest in the region where the Housemate is living. So here are the other three.

Chinstrap penguins, or "chinnies", are probably my favorite. Easily identifiable by the chinstrap-like marking under their chins.

From his stories, they seem pretty cheeky; one jumped up onto the small boat the Housemate was on, and stood there for about ten minutes checking them out. I think many of the penguins in Antarctica are like that, though--without hundreds of years of hunting by humans, the animals don't have the same fear of us that animals on other continents have learned.

Adelie penguins. There's a whole colony of them near the station, so he gets to see a lot of these guys.


And in December, their eggs hatched!

Baby penguin! The chicks were hard to get shots of, because the parents were very protective. They had to be--if they slipped up, a skua would be there to swoop in and take off with the baby for its breakfast :(

Gentoo penguins have the white marks above their eyes.


On Wednesday: animals in Antarctica that aren't penguins!

One month left...

The Housemate, aka my boyfriend, comes back from Antarctica in one month. Hopefully this last month will go faster than the first two.

Most of the time since he left, I've found myself missing him terribly. In the past couple months, I've been sad about various things, which makes me think how nice it would be to have the Housemate here to comfort me. Except for the five days when my friend was visiting me, and the two weeks when I was at my parents' for winter break, I've been pretty lonely in my house here in Honolulu. Every day I would get to school late, because I wanted to talk to him so long in the morning, and then leave school early, because I wanted to talk to him before he went to bed (7 hour time difference). While at school, I would take every opportunity I had to chat with him, or play Scrabble with him on Facebook. It wasn't very good for my work productivity.

Furthermore, I was sad because I felt so lonely and bored, all while the Housemate was exploring Antarctica, doing exciting things that few people get to do, seeing things few people get to see, taking great photos and videos, making new friends, eating great food, playing in a band. He never had as much time to chat as I did. I was happy for him, but sometimes I just wanted my boyfriend to come back and be mine again.

Winter break was different. I was home with my parents and my two brothers, doing family stuff. I adore my brothers, and we don't get to see each other very often, so I cherish all the time I get to spend with them. We played games, hung out, talked, cooked, had dinner parties, celebrated the holidays. I had much less time to talk to the Housemate than I did at home in Honolulu. To make matters worse, I didn't want my family to be able to hear me talk to the Housemate, so most of the time when we were video chatting, I typed instead of talked. He could still see me on the video, but it's not quite as personal as hearing someone's voice. The internet connection at my parents' house is slow, so the video was frequently freezing, making our conversations more frustrating. And I gave a priority to events happening at home; I did my best to find a free moment to talk to the Housemate, but sometimes I'd be called down for dinner, or a game, or whatever, and I'd have to say goodbye.

The whole situation frustrated the Housemate, understandably. Now I was the one having fun doing other things, finding little time to spend with him. One time after I abruptly left a conversation with him because I was called down for dinner, he wrote a sad email to me saying how marginal I was making him feel (yes, he's a sensitive type, which is mostly wonderful but sometimes tough). It was good that he told me, but it made me feel awful to know that I was making him feel like that. This awful feeling was followed, however, by a slight resentment of his neediness. For two months I had felt lonely and sad while he went off and did fun things, and now that I was the one with fun things to do, he was whining to me about how it made him feel neglected. I began to focus on all the things (actually not very many) that I wish were different about him. I started to think that maybe he's not the right one for me. He's a great boyfriend, but could I ever seriously marry him? Have his children? These thoughts ate away at me, putting me off him, and I resented some of the time we were spending together in video chats. He seemed too needy. And there were other things that I'd rather be doing.

The resentment only lasted a few days, though. He really is wonderful in so many ways. Sure, he has a couple flaws, but I don't really believe that everyone has one perfect soul mate, so I won't cast him aside because he's not absolutely perfect. I have some doubts, but I can push them to the back of my brain. Right now, I just love having a boyfriend, more than I thought I would back before I'd ever had one. I love having someone adore me, tell me I'm beautiful and sweet. I love snuggling, and having someone warm and gentle there next to me when I'm sleeping. I love having someone who will listen to me, be happy when I'm happy, and comfort me when I'm sad. I love having someone who loves to cook for me. He does all of these things and more. He really is a great boyfriend.

I miss him a ton. Every time we sign off video chat, I wish we could stay longer. I can't wait for him to come back. I mean--I can wait, I will wait. I just wish I didn't have to. Here's hoping that the month will fly by fast, and that everything will be better when he gets back.

The close of 2010

I have been a pretty terrible blogger in the last month (assuming I was ever marginally competent). Sure I can claim to have been busy and preoccupied, but part of it was just me feeling unmotivated. I guess there are times when I write here because I feel the need to share my thoughts on some subject, but there are also times when it seems like too much work. There were three posts that I started in the month of December but never got around to finishing (and are now too out of date to complete). Any other ideas I might have had last month (if there were any) didn't even get that far. Still, I feel like 2010 deserves some form of closing post, even if I will be publishing this in the new year.

So what (of note) did 2010 bring to me?

Games
I was still playing some Dragon Age: Origins at the beginning of the year, and then again when they put out the Morrigan DLC. I also played through Portal after Steam offered it for free, and that was quite a revelation. It was too short, of course, but I am eagerly anticipating the release of the longer, larger Portal 2. I finished up the main campaign of Guild Wars all alone, as my brother couldn't bring himself to play the last three missions with me (sniff!). He did, however, get me to buy Borderlands, which he is willing to play with me, and we're nearing the end of our second playthrough together. But really, this year was all about Mass Effect 2. It is an awesome game, fun, powerful, and very well done. I loved it so much, and the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC which I recently played was just icing on the cake. I can't wait for Mass Effect 3, but at the same time I will be so sad to see the saga end.

Regarding other types of gaming, I also just got hooked on Dominion. Unfortunately, it was a Christmas gift that my younger brother received, so if I want to continue playing it when I go back to Hawaii, I will have to secure a set for myself. If you don't know the game, I highly recommend you check it out.

TV
Fringe continues to be my favorite show on TV. My favorite new show of the year was Nikita, though Hawaii Five-0 is a guilty pleasure of mine as well (it's so fun to recognize places they go to, though less so to imagine that people have been found dead there...). Glee had some ups and downs, but I think they may be on the right track again (hope hope). More disappointingly, they canceled FlashForward last spring, and Caprica this fall. I'm particularly bitter about Caprica. Maybe Blood & Chrome will help explain how the events in Caprica ultimately led to the Cylons of the Cylon War, but I'm not counting on it.

Movies
I saw more this year than I think I usually do in the theater. I'm trying to remember which ones (I should keep a list or something). Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Inception, Kick-Ass, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, and Black Swan stand out, but I'm surely forgetting others that I enjoyed. And those are just ones in the theater--I also recently saw the movie Clue for the first time (funny and very enjoyable), as well as (500) Days of Summer, which was quite beautiful.

I just have to share this anecdote from the theater when I saw Black Swan. At the end of the movie, as the credits started rolling and the lights went up, my friend and I overheard this conversation behind us:
Person 1: I don't get it... Did [slight spoiler happen] at the end?
Person 2: No, they have to leave it open for a sequel.
It was hilarious. This is not the type of movie that would have a sequel. Really, I mean, it's Darren Aronofsky. Imagine The Wrestler Returns. Requiem II for a Dream. Or Pi^2. No. Anyway, my friend and I thought the idea of Black Swan 2 was pretty hilarious.

Academics
In terms of classes and grades, 2010 may have been my best year ever (that one darn professor who only gave me an A). But unfortunately I'm not an undergrad anymore, and doing well in classes is not enough. I need to be doing research, developing my plan for my dissertation, writing my prospectus. That is so much harder for me than the clear-cut goal of mastering class material to do well on an exam. I got enough research done in one of the summer months to have something to present at the yearly student presentations, and then again at a presentation to the general public at Hanauma Bay. But that was really my only productive month of the year. Aside from that, I have failed miserably at being a good grad student. Luckily, I have PhD Comics to help me feel like I am not alone.

Family and friends
2010 was the first year that I had a boyfriend (and the same one, at that: "The Housemate") for the entire year. Over one sixth of the year, though, he was away in Antarctica. I rather like having a boyfriend, but I'm still not sure how serious the relationship is or where it is going. This will deserve its own post, later.

My grandmother died. I am now down to one grandparent--her husband. As the only one of their progeny living in the same city (in fact, I live less than a mile from my grandfather, whereas the next nearest descendant is a five hour plane ride away), I think it will largely fall on me to keep him company. I can't imagine how lonely it must feel to lose your spouse of 62 years.

My roommate from college came to visit me right before Christmas. Despite unusually rainy weather, we had a lot of fun, and her stay was all too short. I still need to go through those photos. If there are any good ones, I'll be sure to share.

In short
It was a good year overall. Could have been better, but could have been a lot worse. I hope that in the new year I'll be able to sort out some of the kinks I've developed in the past year (mainly, questions about the boyfriend and what the heck I'm doing in grad school). So I'll take a cup of kindness for 2010, and I wish for an even better 2011.

One month down, two (plus) more to go...

It has been one month now since my boyfriend, aka the Housemate, left for Antarctica. I am not holding up as well as I thought I would.

We've been messaging and emailing practically every day since he left, though there was a six-day period in there where he was on a boat and had no communication with me at all. In the past week and a half, we've even been video chatting most days. That has definitely helped a lot. But I still miss him like crazy. Once in a while, I go through periods where I find myself feeling really sad, almost lost without him--I even whimper. I just want him to come home, or for me to hop on a plane and go to Antarctica to be with him.

What happened to me? Up until a little over a year ago, I'd never had a boyfriend. High school, college, and two years of post-grad, I never felt like I needed a boy. I was single and proud. But now I have a boy, and when he goes away, I feel miserable. Have I really become so dependent? So weak?

I expected it to be a little difficult without him. He's such a huge part of the life that I've constructed here in Hawaii: housemate, classmate, best friend, boyfriend. Without him, there's no one there when I wake up, eat breakfast, walk to school, walk home from school, make dinner, eat dinner, watch TV shows, and go to bed. No one to talk to about my day when I get home from school. I have been spending a little more time with a couple of my friends at school, but it's nowhere near what I had with the Housemate.

On top of this, though, I think I'm missing him even more than I anticipated due to unexpected circumstances. I'm going through a bit of a rough patch right now. My research at school is in a sort of bad place. I've been stuck for a little while on a problem, partially because I'm having trouble finding the motivation to move forward and fix it. I've been doubting the direction of my project, and even my passion for the topic. It's sort of a downward spiral: I get frustrated with some problem in my project, so I start to question whether it's a good idea at all, which makes my motivation to work through the problem diminish, so I spend even more time getting frustrated, etc. Now that my fellowship application is in and I really have no excuse for not moving forward with my project, I've been feeling a little depressed about my research.

The other thing that's hovering over my head is that my grandmother is really not well. She's been living under nursing care for the past few months because she's really weak after her last stroke, but at least she had been talkative (though, having poor short term memory, she'd keep asking the same questions) and was feeding herself. But the past month has been full of ups and downs--periods of fever, or no fever, times where she can feed herself, or can't feed herself, is talking, isn't talking, etc. My mom and brother arrived last week Thursday, and the next day she started to get better. Still not how she'd been a month ago, but she was talking a little and wanted us to wheel her out for some fresh air and sunlight. But then suddenly on Wednesday, she had a bad fever and hardly seemed aware of us being there... Basically, it's very possible that this is the final downhill slide for her. I'm resigned, but it's still stressful, and the fact that all we can do is wait is so sad. So it wasn't the best Thanksgiving. My brother and I had a couple hours at a proper Thanksgiving dinner party with extended family members on the island--as I had celebrated Thanksgiving last year--but most of the day was spent hanging out with the grandparents, holding my grandmother's hand, holding a wet cloth on her forehead, comforting my mom. Forgetting that it was supposed to be a day to be thankful, and just feeling sad and stressed.

So that may be why I miss the Housemate so much, and feel so empty and lonely sometimes. Having him here couldn't fix all my problems, but it would certainly be some welcome comfort and support. February can't come soon enough. I thought having my mom and brother here would help speed things along, but no such luck. I guess there's still the holiday season to look forward to.

Hold me like you'll never let me go

The Housemate left for Antarctica last night. He'll actually spend a few days in Chile before boating down to Antarctica, but he's gone.

As a parting gift, he gave me a Build-a-Bear Jedi bear. Best. Boyfriend. Ever. It's the perfect present because
1) It's a Jedi! He even has a plush lightsaber.
2) I think it's a very cute bear, and the fur is incredibly soft. And
3) When I opened the box the Housemate said, "It's a snuggle bear!" in reference to the fact that one of my favored pet names for him is "snuggle bear" (...I am so embarrassed right now). See, he got it for me so I'd have someone else to cuddle with at night while he's away.
So far I've just been calling him "Jedi Bear". I was trying to think of some cute clever pun on a Jedi's name (err, Bear Kenobi? --yuck), but I haven't come up with anything yet. Any suggestions?

I gave the Housemate a fleece slanket to take to Antarctica. If you watch The Big Bang Theory, it's what Penny gave to Leonard when he was leaving for the North Pole: a blanket with sleeves (she gave him the red one, I got the hunter green). It's no good to walk around wearing, but if you're sitting and want to use your hands--for reading, using the computer, talking on the phone, etc.--it's the perfect thing to keep you warm and cozy. It's not any use here in Hawaii (unless your office air conditioning is way too high or something), but hopefully he'll enjoy it in Antarctica.

He may need that extra warmth. I am sorry to report that he has left for Antarctica with no more warmth than a bunch of long-sleeve t-shirts and a single fleece jacket. He meant to bring a nice fuzzy sweatshirt hoodie as well, but he forgot it at home. The thing is, that's all he owns. Having lived his adult life thus far only in Indonesia, Arizona, and Hawaii, he doesn't have much in the way of warm clothing. At least he has the fleece jacket, which I told him to buy from the outlet stores when he was in Maine last month. I meant to make him order more stuff from L.L. Bean (they ship for free, at least in the current season), but never got around to it. I guess he can buy stuff in Chile, but it may be that his one fleece jacket will just see a lot of use. Which is good, because he can't get his money's worth out of it here.

I drove the Housemate to the airport in the mid-afternoon (any excuse to leave school early!). As I often do when driving to the airport, I sang "Leaving on a Jet Plane." I started singing it innocently enough, but was taken aback by how the lyrics came across to me this time, as they hadn't ever resonated with me the same way before (even though the lyrics are from the point of view of the person leaving, not the person left behind):
I'm ready, I'm so lonesome I could die...
So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you'll wait for me
Hold me like you'll never let me go
'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane
I don't know when I'll be back again
Oh, babe, I hate to go
OK, so I know he'll be back in February, but I don't know when in February! He still has to decide if he wants to do any traveling in South America before coming back up to Hawaii. And I felt lonesome, and I wanted him to kiss me and hold me like he'd never let me go. It still seems strange to find myself feeling this way about someone.

When we got to the airport, we found that his flight had been not just delayed, but "rescheduled" for two hours later. So instead of going straight through security after checking in, he stayed outside to hang out with me. We went to the little Starbucks right there (mocha coconut Frappuccino is sooo delicious!), then sat together on a bench sipping our coffees. We played with his fancy new camera, taking shots of the plants and the pigeons and sparrows and the Starbucks signs and each other, though the lighting wasn't ideal (very gray and cloudy). He gave me a shoulder massage, which was awesome because I was really sore, probably from doing all his lab dishes for hours, but possibly also from my encounter with the PlayStation Move Gladiator duel at the local Best Buy. It was a very pleasant hour and a half or so, just us hanging out together there with nothing to do but enjoy each other's company...

And await the inevitable. I did find myself occasionally blurting out "Don't go," still, but my sorrow at seeing him go was now tempered by my excitement at the experience he was about to have, so I also kept saying things like "You're going to have such a great time!" So while the sadness--and sometimes tears--would creep up, there was also that happiness to console me. I waited in the line for security with him, then watched him go through security to make sure that he didn't have anything he couldn't take through and needed to pass off to me. He got his shoes back on, put on his backpack, went around the corner and was gone.

It hasn't really hit me yet. I mean, he's left for a week at a time before, so this isn't so out of place. But I think as the weeks go on, there's a definite chance that I'll get lonely, unless I change my habits and start hanging out with my other friends more. The problem is that he's not just my boyfriend--he's also my roommate and my best friend. So I've lost my snuggle bear, my moral support, my grocery shopping pal, my personal chef, my TV-watching companion, and my movies/beach/weekend activity buddy. I guess I've made the mistake of putting all my eggs in one basket here. "All Housemate all the time" is very convenient when he's home, but when he's gone it leaves "all nothing all the time."

I'm sure it'll be OK. I'll have a new roommate (a subletter for three months) moving in probably next week, so hopefully I'll get along with her. Maybe she'll want to do grocery shopping and cooking with me. I'll try to make more of an effort in hanging out with my other friends. And there are a number of things at home that I've been meaning to do. I have books to read, shows to watch, games to play--I still haven't done the Shadow Broker DLC for Mass Effect 2 or the Morrigan DLC for Dragon Age: Origins. Plus, there's always school work, which could definitely use more of my attention.

It might turn out to be good for me to have some time away from the boyfriend. But I miss him. I know now how nice it can be to have someone who wants to take care of you, even if you're expected to take care of him in return--that can be nice, too. Independence is simple and has its own advantages, but for me, right now, I find that I prefer having a boyfriend. Especially since my shoulder still hurts.

Don't go--
Have an amazing time.

Not quite the week I was hoping for

This past week was the last week before the Housemate leaves for Antarctica for three and a half months to study marine viruses in the Antarctic summer algae blooms. Back in May when we first found out that he'd be going to Antarctica, I could hardly contain my jealousy. Um, scratch that--I couldn't contain my jealousy. It's an exotic, unique and beautiful place that very few people ever get a chance to visit. And there are frakking penguins there. But now that it comes down to the point of him leaving, the jealousy is gone, and I'm mainly just sad.

I think I imagined that the last week before he left would be full of fun things. We could get lunch at a new Indonesian restaurant that opened on campus (the only Indonesian restaurant I know of on the island, believe it or not), go to our friend's Halloween party, see Paranormal Activity 2 in the theater, eat out at a fancy restaurant to celebrate our anniversary (since we never got around to it last month), and I even rushed to get my open water certification done so we could go out diving together before he left. Well, turns out we did none of those things.

He just had so much work that he had to do before heading to Antarctica. It's understandable, I guess, that there would be a lot to take care of before leaving for over three months. Last weekend, he slept over at school--twice. There was some experiment that he needed to check on every two hours, for over 48 hours, so he just camped out there. The second night (Saturday to Sunday), I slept over with him. We brought his inflatable mattress (either queen or double size, not sure), which just barely fit on the floor of my office, as well as blankets and pillows and pajamas. We ate takeout Thai in the lab, watched Star Wars on my computer, then went to bed. Yes, his alarm woke me up every couple hours, but I figured it was all fitting payback for my BioWare Bazaar nights. The bed was actually quite comfy, and the fact that my office has no windows, and thus no natural light to disturb us, allowed us to sleep in pretty late. I got nearly 11 hours of sleep--I don't remember when the last time that happened was.

This past weekend, we didn't sleep over at the lab at all, but he worked late. And I, anxious to spend whatever time I had left with him regardless of the venue, went to the lab with him. One night (I can't even remember which night it was...Friday, I guess) we stayed until 2 am. I helped him with samples from the ultra centrifuge (kind of cool--you could actually see viruses, concentrated into cloudy bands in the density stratified layers), but I was totally falling asleep as it got later and later. I tried to sing to keep myself awake, but I learned (fun fact!) I can apparently continue to sing "Giants in the Sky" even as my mind slips into a partial sleep state (my eyes closed and I forgot where I was or what I was doing, but I kept on singing). Two of the other nights, I washed dishes that he needed washed in the lab (big jugs, flasks, beakers, test tubes, etc.). The first night I watched The Daily Show and Colbert Report while washing; the second time, I got to listen to Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything on audiobook. At least that part was fun, and I got to wear a lab coat, too! It's funny how the public image of a scientist always has a lab coat (watch a TV ad that features a "scientist", and they're sure to have the white coat), but I don't think I'd worn one since maybe one of my undergraduate labs, if then.

Then there was the camera drama. The Housemate has had his eye on buying a very nice (and very expensive) digital SLR camera for over half a year, now, and the fact that he was about to travel to Antarctica (unique landscapes! penguins!) finally inspired him to get it. He found a good offer for the camera and a couple lenses on a website, but thanks to a sleazy sales rep and a naive and trusting Housemate (perhaps made extra vulnerable by the fact that he was calling at 3 am--as soon as the place opened on the East Coast--to make sure it would ship in time), he got totally ripped off. We didn't get the package until Friday afternoon, customer service was closed for the weekend, so the issue just simmered all weekend. On Monday morning we were able to get a discounted price, so now it probably comes down to a more "normal" price, though nowhere near the good deal that he expected. I still think they're totally sketchy, sleazy, disagreeable, and didn't give him what he deserved, and I wish he hadn't ordered from them in the first place. It was an added stress that he (and, well, we) didn't need the weekend before he leaves. So I would highly recommend you NEVER order from CentralDigital (http://www.centraldigital.com). They suck &$%. And if you find yourself in the mood to prank call them (toll free at 1-800-896-4661) or email them computer viruses, that would be OK, too. All right, sorry, end of rant...

The Housemate was also busy finding and preparing for a subletter to take his room. Three months' rent adds up, so he couldn't pass up the opportunity to recoup some of the housing costs (it's actually quite a good deal for him, as he's going to Antarctica on the lab's grant and doesn't have to pay for room or board for three months while he continues to be paid). He had to clear out his room of possessions (a lot of them ended up in boxes in my room...), clean, and put an ad up and show the room to interested people. Luckily he did manage to find a subletter. She should be moving in on November 1 or so. So it seems to have worked out (so far), but it took a lot of time and work.

Anyway, it wasn't quite the romantic week I was hoping to spend with my boyfriend before he leaves for over a quarter of a year. But at least I got to spend a lot of time with him. Even washing his dishes made me happy, though not as happy as diving or dining out with him probably would have made me. As the week went on, I found myself increasingly blurting out "Don't go" to him. That, and "Can I come, too? I'll be your carry-on personal item." Sometimes when I say (or just think) these things, I tear up a bit, too, which of course gets me lots of hugs and kisses from him, which I like. What happened to me? It wasn't that long ago that I was little miss never-had-a-boyfriend. And now I can hardly think what to do without him. I really wish I had a research project in Antarctica, too. I hear they have a hot tub there.

To be continued, tomorrow.

My Big Island trip: Snorkeling and Volcano Videos

Finally, I've sifted through all the video footage the Housemate and I took on my camera during our trip to the Big Island to bring you only the best (or at least the better). I ended up making two videos.

The first includes all of my good snorkeling footage; though it does have a couple clips taken while not snorkeling, they are at least water related (such as the baby eel from the tide pool at Pine Trees Beach). I figured one snorkeling video was more convenient than separate videos for each of the beaches I went to. I will note again that the Housemate is much steadier with the camera while snorkeling than I am, in part because he is much more experienced with free-diving than I am. So you can mostly tell the shots that I took by whether or not they look jumpy. The steady shots underwater are basically all his.

The second is the video I took at Hawaii Volcanoes National Park; it has some short clips of craters and steam vents, but it's mostly the awesome video footage from when we went to see the red hot lava. Since when I was filming, I didn't know which clips would be put in the final video, or even that I would be making a final edited video, I prepared many of them as standalone clips. That is to say, I did quiet little narrations in many of them (e.g. "This is the Halema'uma'u Crater on August 28, 2010"). How many times can you hear me say the date? Oh well, you can ignore my commentary, since the subtitles tell you what you need to know.

Note you can watch it in HD (720p). Enjoy!

Snorkeling video


Volcano video


Here are the links to all of my previous posts of photos (and stories) from our trip to the Big Island (just to have them conveniently all in one place).

Magic Sands Beach Park (first snorkeling trip)
Pine Trees Beach (lava rock beach with tide pool)
Hapuna Bay (second snorkeling trip)
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Halemaumau Crater and Thurston Lava Tube
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: Kilauea Iki
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: End of the Road
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park: RED HOT LAVA!
Pu'uhonua o Hanaunau (the best snorkeling)

The Housemate: First Anniversary

Tonight marks the first anniversary of my first kiss with the Housemate*. The first night that we spent together (fully clothed, no further than "second base"). For those of you who are newer to my blog and don't remember all the drama I posted about at the beginning of our relationship, you can find all the links to the posts here. I have been relatively quiet about the progress of our relationship since the first several weeks when I was still finding my footing and felt like airing my uncertainties on this blog. But I figure this is good a time for a little update, in case people are interested in how things are between us now.

Things have been going pretty smoothly for a while. After a couple months, I got over the weirdness of calling him my boyfriend, and being considered his girlfriend. I did spend a while trying to figure out when I could tell him I loved him (he had already told me--way too early, I might add--though he did back up from it for awhile, probably waiting for me to say it once before he tried saying it again). I tried planning (OK, how about when he drops me off at the airport? Or maybe when we he gets back from vacation and I pick him up at the airport? How about his birthday?). But the occasion just never seemed right. And then finally a few months later it happened. It happened naturally, without any fanfare or anything--just kind of went by as if it were nothing new. I guess it wasn't really, because I think he already knew. We tell each other "I love you" a lot, now.

We sleep together every night, but we still haven't passed "third base". I'm not really sure why; maybe he has ethical reasons to abstain from sex before marriage? I suppose maybe it's something we should talk about, but since we both seem comfortable with the current arrangement we haven't moved to change anything. Is that strange?

Things aren't completely perfect, though. We never fight, not in the normal sense. We're both too mild-mannered to yell or even really get angry at each other. But I've noticed that what we do is we get sad at each other. We have a disagreement, and someone gets sad. The other person, not wanting to be the type who makes the other one sad, then either rushes in to apologize, or gets sad for making the other person sad. It's like a war of who can make the other person feel more guilty. And it usually ends with lots of kisses and both of us saying we're sorry (though one person--the loser of the "argument"--means it more). Kind of disgusting, in a way. I wish we didn't get sad at each other as often. I swear, the Housemate can be really sensitive about things.

Also, I wonder if the lack of full-on intimacy may be keeping me back a little from fully falling for him. I mean I'm very happy with him, I love him, but after a year I still can't picture ever marrying him. Maybe the fact that I've never "shopped around" is leaving me unsure of whether he's really a good match, since I've no one to compare him to. Or maybe that's just me at this stage in life--some of my friends my age are getting married, but I still feel very far away from that kind of lifestyle.

Anyway, for the most part, I am very happy with our relationship. It's a little weird, and maybe limiting, having my boyfriend also be my best friend and my roommate. But it is also very convenient. We have great times together and always enjoy each other's company. I am making slow progress with surfing (his biggest hobby), and I've been successful in geekifying him through TV shows, movies, and even a little gaming (I just gave him a "Look at me still talking when there's science to do" t-shirt, which he was psyched about). And he cooks for me a lot. It's great. I don't know how things will turn out between us, but for now things are pretty wonderful. That's as much as I can ask for, for now.

*It also happened to be my first romantic kiss ever, but whatever.

My Big Island trip: Hanaunau

After our adventures of the previous night, the Housemate and I were ready to sleep in on Sunday morning. But we didn't want to sleep in too late, since we were leaving the Big Island that night. Time for one more snorkel trip. Turns out we saved the best for last.

Before going snorkeling, the Housemate and I visited Pu'uhonua o Hanaunau National Historical Park, mainly because we pulled into the wrong parking lot and they'd taken our $5 before we realized we'd wanted the next lot for the snorkeling place (but didn't feel too bad because that lot was already full). Pu'uhonua o Hanaunau is a sacred site of the ancient Hawaiians--a sanctuary of sorts. Ancient Hawaiian society had many taboos, such as eating a forbidden food or wearing red or yellow feathers if not royalty, and the penalty for breaking them was death. That may sound harsh for such crimes, but the ancient Hawaiians were what we would consider very superstitious, and they believed that breaking the taboos would bring disaster unless the violator was immediately put to death. If the violator managed to make it to a sanctuary like Pu'uhonua o Hanaunau before being killed, however, he or she would essentially be cleansed of his or her offense and thus forgiven.

The park is small, with a self-guided tour through Hanaunau including traditional structures, a rock apparently used for a traditional game, the royal fish ponds, etc. Hanaunau was a place for the ancient Hawaiian royalty. This harbor was used only by royalty.


These days, though, it seems to be used mainly by sea turtles.


We were there around 1pm, and the sun was very bright and the day very hot. If it had been later in the afternoon we might have walked around a little longer, but as it was we decided we needed to get in the water, so we headed over to the popular snorkeling area just next to the park.

Immediately after getting in, we were already seeing beautiful fish. Of the three snorkel places we went to on the Big Island, it was the only one that had as high a concentration of fish as Hanauma Bay. And it had a LOT of live coral.

A cool coral formation I saw:


Not long after we got in, I saw something I'd never seen before while snorkeling: a moray eel. This was a whitemouth moray eel, to be precise. The Housemate snapped this award-winning shot (we both decided it was the best shot of the trip):


We harassed this guy for a while, trying to get some more shots, some video, waiting for it to come out of its little hole again, when another thing that I'd definitely never seen snorkeling before swam by: a spotted eagle ray. The Housemate got these photos of it:



Not all that spotted, really.

(Meanwhile, I was getting it on video. We followed it for a while, then I ended up lending my camera to the Housemate to take video, since he's better at diving and getting steady shots underwater. Check back next week when I post the snorkeling video. Eagle rays are really amazing to watch--they're so graceful, just flying through the water.)

Later, we saw another moray eel--this one with a crab it had just caught in its mouth. Other fish were gathering around, hoping to get a piece of it. I snapped this (slightly blurry) photo of it just before it found a little nook to hide in while it ate its meal. It all happened very quickly.


I got some nice video of the eel after it finished its meal and started swimming around again, which I'll post, as I've said, next week. Here are some other photos the Housemate and I snapped:

Raccoon butterflyfish


Yellow trumpetfish (photo taken by the Housemate)


Housematefish


Coral arch


A yellow tang at the edge of a reef


Between the eels and the ray, this was definitely the most exciting snorkel outing I've ever had (well, maybe the humuhumunukunukuapua'a attack...). I would definitely go back there on another trip, though I'd like to go a little earlier in the morning so I could see Pu'uhonua o Hanaunau National Historical Park a bit more.

That evening we drove up to the Kona airport to go back home to Honolulu. The sunset was beautiful. Snapped from the car:


As with any vacation, I was sad that it was over and that I had to go back to school/work the next day. But we packed so much into our four days there, filled them with so many great memories, we couldn't complain. And I can't wait to go back.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - RED HOT LAVA!

Long post today. It was a long adventure. But hopefully it will be worth it; our adventure certainly was. If you want, though, you can just skip to all the photos. Follow-up to yesterday's post.

The guide who was going to take us on the hike to see the hot lava was late. He was supposed to be there at 7 pm, but he didn't show until around 7:20 - 7:25. This gave me time to get a little more nervous about the expedition, and for the night to get a little darker. All the people going in our group (eight of us) followed the guide in our cars to another parking lot not in the National Park. Apparently this is where all the guides start their groups hiking out to see the lava, and there was a convenience store, an outdoor/window restaurant, and an outdoor bar with live band where people would come back from seeing the lava to celebrate. We got money from the ATM and water and flashlights from the convenience store (though we ended up using the extra flashlights the guide had, which were brighter). I used the convenience store's bathroom. We all gathered around the guide again as he gave us some last notes before going out. Turns out the hike would take more like one hour and fifteen minutes each way, plus we'd stay out at the lava maybe half an hour or so. So we'd be finishing up around 11 pm. With a two and a half hour drive to Kona after that. Fun.

We headed out away from the noise and the light of the bar, into the dark. The first couple minutes were on an even dirt path, but then we started out over the hardened lava fields. To get a sense of what it probably looked like (I couldn't get a good photo in the dark), see the terrain in the last two photos of yesterday's post. We noticed this tree mold just as we stepped off the path:

The lava cooled with a fallen tree in it, but that tree has since disintegrated, leaving the mold--like someone leaving their shoe print in cooling cement.

After that, it was a rough hike. At the beginning, I'd call out every time I stepped over a big crack--not the kind you'd fall into and get stuck inside, but the kind that could twist your leg pretty bad (if it was the kind of crack you could fall into, the guide would point it out himself, and that only happened once)--to warn the Housemate to watch his step. But after 10 minutes or so, they became commonplace enough that we knew we just had to watch our step all the time. The rocky land was not flat, but had sloped lumps that we were walking up and down and up and down. The top crust was crumbly, so we had to be careful not to slip on the loose bits on the slopes. And the pahoehoe folds were fragile, so the guide warned us not to step on their ridges, since they could break under us and twist our ankle.

I have little sense of how long we hiked over the hardened lava field, though I would estimate about half the hike was that segment, as we were making our way towards the coast. Finally, we made it to the coast, where we turned right to go south towards the lava flow. Here, we got some relief, as the path along the coast went over dirt (though sometimes through stands of trees with tricky roots, but that wasn't so bad). It seemed safe, as long as we didn't look to our left and see the rocky cliff right there leading straight down to the crashing waves. The shrubs and trees were nice to see--some sign of life--and the guide told us that if we heard anything rustling around out there, it was probably a wild boar.

For most of the hike, we'd been able to see the red-glowing plume of sulfur dioxide rising from the lava outflow. As we made our way down the coast, we finally got a sight of the lava. Very distant still--no more than a dot smeared on my camera screen--but distinctive. I snapped a couple pictures, but they would soon become obsolete.

As we got closer to the lava flow, the terrain changed back to rough lava rock. We climbed down a steep slope to a black-sand beach. The sand was very grainy because the land was so new, and the ocean hadn't had time yet to refine the grains. The guide told us that pretty soon, the rock we'd be walking over would be hot (bringing the temperature to over 100 F/38 C, I think he said), then it would get cool again, then it would get hot again as we made the last bit of the trek to where we'd view the lava. As promised, the rock did get hot. Luckily the ocean breeze was there to give us relief. The rocks got cool again, as we walked over older land. Then they got hot again. That could only mean we were getting close to where we'd view the lava.

And before long, there it was. It was spectacular.


I'm still kicking myself for not bringing my tripod on the hike, because I'd been using it earlier in the day. (Having not intended to go on such an arduous hike on that trip to the park, I hadn't brought a suitable hiking pack. When setting out on the night hike I took only my camera case, not thinking to take the little tripod out of my too-clunky purse.) So most of my photos are slightly blurry, since I was taking them in the dark, and the lumpy terrain prevented me from getting a good view with the camera resting on the ground. This was the sharpest photo I got.


Look at it drip! All the while, waves from the left were crashing onto the shore and the rocky ledge where the lava was flowing from, sometimes high enough to cover our view of the lava--just wait until you see the video I'll post next week (still editing...). The dangerous glow of the super hot lava, the slow rise of the illuminated smoke plume, mixed with the power and the sound of the ocean waves crashing onto the shore--it was a truly awesome, breath-taking sight.

This is a photo from the Housemate's camera, where you can see the lava glow reflected in the approaching breaking wave.


While we took photos of the lava flowing into the ocean, the guide scouted ahead to figure out how close we could safely get to some of the hot lava sitting at the surface. We walked just a minute inland where we lost sight of the waves but could see surface lava. This was fairly stationary, and thus relatively safe to get closer to (or so the guide believed). The plume of smoke prevented the guide from taking us to what I guess was a river of lava, which we couldn't see over the ridge, that was feeding the ocean outflow:


The guide took those of us who wanted to get a closer view of the surface lava right up to see it, but some of us chose to stay behind. The Housemate and I decided not to go any farther when we realized we were stepping over cracks that looked like this:

I have no idea what those little orange dots are. I couldn't see them in the dark or under the flashlight.

Besides, we had a perfectly good view of the surface lava from where we were. It wasn't like we needed to touch it or anything.

Blow up that photo and it's like we were right there, right?

It was an amazing sight. While we were standing there, the Housemate said, "I'm really glad we did this." I responded, "I'll say that when we're back at the car."

We hiked back to lights and civilization quietly, everyone just thinking about what we had seen. The creation of new land. Pele (Hawaiian goddess of volcanoes) at work.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Unless we go again. We went at night because that's when we were there. The advantage of the nighttime hike was the extra-dramatic glow. The lava stood out so strongly against the darkness, and the huge sulfur dioxide plume caught the red glow as well (it looks gray/white in the day). I wonder if I would have noticed the glow between the rocks in the daylight. The advantage of daytime would be that we wouldn't need flashlights and the light would make it an easier hike, plus we could actually see the lava rock fields, the ocean, the black-sand beach, and the rocky cliffs as we walked by. If I go again, I'll do it during the day, so I can see everything that we walked by. That would mean a lot more photos, though.

The rest of the night was a little crazy. We got back to the parking lot around 11-11:15. Before we headed back to Kona (2.5 hr+ trip), we needed (in rough order of importance)

1. Bathroom stop
2. Gas
3. Coffee so the Housemate could stay awake driving (because of the rental car agreement, I couldn't share the burden there.)
4. Food (I hadn't eaten dinner, though luckily I'd eaten half of my large lunch sandwich around 4 pm, and the Housemate had eaten a bunch of sushi at sunset but having fasted all day he needed more.)

In the first tiny town we got to, we stopped for gas, but we got mad at the place because it declined my credit card (which totally had plenty of credit--the next gas station took it no problem) and they didn't have a bathroom. We went to the next town, slightly larger, and got gas there. Check off #2. But when we went to the gas station's convenience store, even they didn't have a bathroom for us to use. Fail.

We made our way up to Hilo, the largest town on the island. We figured we'd go to the McDonald's to use their bathroom and get some food. By then it was about 11:50, and their door said that they closed at midnight, but they'd already locked the doors and we could see them cleaning the floor inside. I suppose if we'd pounded on the door and demanded to be served, we might have had a chance to get in, but we didn't (and they'd probably closed those registers already). All the fast food places at that strip mall had closed by then, but most of them still had their drive-thrus open. Angry at McDonald's, we went to Taco Bell's drive-thru. Strangely I wasn't in the mood for any sort of food (maybe because it was so late, and my stomach had already given up on the prospect of dinner), so the Housemate ordered some tacos and we left. I ended up eating one of the tacos. Check off #4. But still no bathroom. It was getting a little desperate.

We found another gas station with a convenience store where we might find some bottles of Starbucks frappuccino and hopefully a bathroom, and pulled off the road there. We worried that the convenience store might not have a bathroom, but before we stopped the car we noticed a Walmart in the next parking lot. Open 24 hours and with reliable BATHROOMS! Never have I been so happy to see a Walmart. We went in and used the bathroom. Check off #1. *Sigh of relief.*

We went back to the convenience store gas station to get some Starbucks frappuccinos. The doors were locked because it was definitely after midnight by now (apparently they lock the doors at 10:30), but we could still make purchases from the cashier inside via intercom and a sliding drawer--like they use in prisons. I'd never seen one of those used for that reason, but I guess if makes sense to prevent robbery. So we bought two frappuccinos through the drawer, standing outside as it started to rain. Did you know that Hilo averages 126 inches of rain a year? Anyway, check off #3. It was now past 12:15. We briefly contemplated trying to find a room to stay at in Hilo, but then we'd just have to spend the next morning driving back, we had free beds waiting for us in Kona, and we had caffeine, so we figured we'd tough it out.

Finally we were on the road. Because we'd come all the way north to Hilo, my GPS told us that it would now be faster to take the more northern route between the volcanoes than to go back around the south point, the way we had come that morning. So we headed back to Kona, in the dark and rain, on a little two-lane highway we hadn't driven before, with almost no one else on the road, and practically nothing but volcano on either side. The Housemate was a little wary of the GPS's directions, because it was sending us on such small roads, but that's the only road there. At one point, we kept going up and down these little hills, and each time we got to the top of one there would be an alarmingly thick fog. We gave up on the radio and I sang songs to help keep the Housemate awake. We made better time than the GPS expected, getting back at 2:15 rather than 2:45. Brush teeth, shower, bed. That bed felt so good. It had been a crazy day, but also an exciting, awe-inspiring, memorable adventure.

Tomorrow I'll share the photos from our last--and best--snorkeling expedition. Be sure to check back next week when I post the video I took at the volcano. The stills don't really do the lava flowing into the ocean justice--you need the movement and the sound to appreciate the moment.

Hawaii Volcanoes National Park - End of the road

At the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park visitor center, we were told that if we wanted to see red flowing lava, we'd have to drive down to the end of Highway 130. And it really is the end.


Here's a view of the (solid, cooled) lava field.


And a pretty little view I caught. Not sure who would want a house there, but it is a unique and strangely beautiful landscape.


In the distance, lava flows into the ocean, with a huge plume of sulfur dioxide smoke rising from the site. After sunset, you can see the plume illuminated red from the lava glow. Recently, there have been surface flows around the ocean outflow that viewers could see (in the distance) at the end of Highway 130. But flow patterns change daily, if not hourly. Unfortunately, there was no lava to see from there the day we went. Here's what we could see.


We stayed until just about sunset, but we'd already decided that the glow wasn't going to be satisfying. The Housemate in particular was disappointed that we didn't get to see the red hot glowing flowing lava; I had seen flowing lava (a red speck in the distance) when I first visited the Big Island 15 years ago (gosh, I'm so old), so I was partially satisfied in being able to claim I'd seen red hot lava. Luckily for us, as we walked back from the disappointing view of smoke to the parking lot, some locals sitting at a table at the path entrance/exit caught our attention. They were selling lava tours, where an experienced guide leads us on a hike out to get a good view of the lava flow. You can't go out by yourself, because one: it's probably a bad idea, since it's rough and there are better paths to take than others, and two: it involves going over private property (illegal trespassing!), but the guides cut a deal with the property owners so they're allowed to take people through. They had a laptop showing very impressive video of flowing lava, which they said was taken last Sunday on one such hike. All this could be ours, with $40 and a 45 minute hike.

I was a little wary of going anywhere not sanctioned by the National Park itself, but the Housemate seemed very enthusiastic about the idea. There were some logistics issues, since we hadn't eaten dinner yet and it was 7:00 and this could take 3 hours, and we didn't have cash on us, but we decided we were OK in terms of food and water, we didn't mind driving back to Kona later at night, and there was an ATM at a convenience store right near where the hike to the lava flow would start. We decided to take the plunge.

As we talked to one of the other young couples (a nice Swiss pair) waiting for the guide to arrive, we decided this felt a little like the beginning of a horror movie: four young, international couples, all strangers, heading out with a mysterious guide over rough terrain well after dark, with the promise of a spectacular, if hazardous, sight. Yes, this was a great idea.