Tag Archives: Hawaii

SPAM SPAM SPAM CAR AND SPAM

Posted on July 14, 2011 by Kelson

I saw a license plate today that read,

I ♥ SPAM

I was a little surprised, but then I saw the “Made in Hawaii” plate holder and realized they were talking about the lunch meat.

*whew!*

Posted in Signs of the Times, Spam | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

A‘a or Pahoehoe?

Posted on September 19, 2009 by Kelson

Probably the influence of the Hawai‘i sign across the street, but I could swear the song on the radio was “My Kind of Lava” #

Posted in Humor, Music | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mauna Kea Sky Shadow

Posted on March 1, 2008 by Kelson

Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day features a view of Mauna Kea’s shadow on the sky, just at the tail end of last week’s lunar eclipse:

Mauna Kea Shadow

I couldn’t help but be reminded of our visit to the summit in April 2005, just at sunset, when I took this similar (but decidedly less cool) photo:

Shadow of the Mountain

Atmospheric Optics explains why most mountains’ shadows look triangular when viewed from their summits.

Posted in Photos, Space | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Mauna Kea Star Trails

Posted on December 20, 2005 by Kelson

Today’s Astronomy Picture of the Day is an incredible long-exposure picture of star trails above Mauna Kea:

Star Trails over Mauna Kea

I think the picture says it all.

Posted in Hawaii 2005, Space | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Tree Trimming

Posted on December 1, 2005 by Kelson

I spotted workers trimming the palm trees at lunch today. In Irvine, that involves a bucket crane and a chainsaw, with a couple of guys on the ground to pick up the fallen fronds and pile them off to the side.

Trimming the palm fronds, mainland style

This contrasted heavily in my mind with the tree trimmers I saw in Hawaii, where a guy would shimmy up a palm tree with a rope and a machete, then hack away.

Trimming the palm fronds, Hawaii style.

I saw them rotating the crane to move the guy to a new tree, so I’m sure the mainland style trimming gets done faster than the island style… but then, we’re always in such a hurry here. Too bad we can’t do our landscaping on island time.

Posted in Photos | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Hawaii: First and Last Views

Posted on October 8, 2005 by Kelson

Here’s our first view of the island of Hawai‘i, as our plane approached on Sunday morning, April 3. Snow-capped Mauna Kea is rising out of the clouds, with Mauna Loa behind it.

View of Mauna Kea from the plane

A week later, we spent Sunday evening waiting for our flight out of Kona Airport. (After a disastrous experience at LAX in which we arrived 2 hours ahead and got to the gate with maybe 15 minutes to spare, we showed up early for the flight home. But Kona’s much smaller and better organized, so it took us maybe 15 minutes to check in. There wasn’t even a line to go through security!)

Kona airport at night

I hope you’ve enjoyed this series on our Hawaiian vacation. I’m sorry it took so long to finish it, but hey, I managed (just barely) to beat the 6-month marker!

Posted in Hawaii 2005, Photos, Travel | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Hidden Mountain

Posted on October 8, 2005 by Kelson

There was one morning in Hawai‘i that the clouds in Kona cleared and we could actually see something of Hualalai, the volcano that makes up the western side of the island and on whose slopes we were staying. Here’s the view from our hotel room balcony.

View of Hualalai from hotel

Usually it looked more like this:

Usual view from hotel

Note: Our stay in Kona was April 4-10, 2005

Posted in Hawaii 2005, Photos, Travel | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

South Coast and Black Sand

Posted on October 8, 2005 by Kelson

Flashback to April and Hawaii. On the day we drove to Kilauea we stopped at various places along the way. And since it’s a nearly-100-mile drive from Kailua, there was a lot to see.

We never made it down to South Point (the southernmost tip of the island), partly because of time and partly because—believe it or not—our car rental contract forbid us to drive on the 12-mile road out to the point! Supposedly it’s poorly maintained—or it used to be, and the policy hasn’t kept up—and they don’t want the wear and tear on cars that aren’t designed for it. As I recall, rental trucks and SUVs don’t have the restriction. This was the closest we ever came to it, and you can only barely see it way off in the distance.

Coastline with coves and points

If you look at the end of the spray near the visible point, then go straight up toward the horizon, you’ll notice that the sky-sea line dips downward slightly and there’s a faint darker patch of sky. As far as we could tell, that’s the promontory heading out toward South Point. Even then, we weren’t quite sure. Continue reading →

Posted in Hawaii 2005, Photos, Travel | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Under the Sea (Kailua Edition)

Posted on September 4, 2005 by Kelson

On the same day as our whale-watching cruise (April 6), we took a submarine tour of Kailua Bay from Atlantis Adventures. The tour started at the Kailua pier, where a boat ferried us out to the submarine in the middle of the bay. The sub itself went down to around 80-90 feet by the end of the trip, and we got to see all kinds of fish and coral.

Fish below Kailua bay

It didn’t look nearly so blue to us, of course, since our eyes were adjusted to it. Continue reading →

Posted in Hawaii 2005, Photos, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Whale Watch Hawaii

Posted on August 28, 2005 by Kelson

One of the first tours we signed up for on Hawaii was a whale watching tour. We figured even if we didn’t see any whales, we’d still have spent a couple of hours on a sailboat. It was April, near the end of the season, and we booked a tour through Red Sail (via Travelocity) on their catamaran, the Noa Noa:

View of catamaran, the Noa Noa

Continue reading →

Posted in Hawaii 2005, Photos, Travel | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments