Sorry About "Dean" and "Erin"

I hear our namesakes in the Gulf are causing great concern. I can only say, "Nothing personal!"

As promised, some photos from our trip yesterday up to Mauna Kea. Here's Dash and his friend Nathan with his broken wrist).

We traveled down the "belt" road to Hilo, cut North and got on the "saddle" road. The saddle road climbs from sea level to about 6,700 feet (not the 9000 I stated below) as it crosses between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea. As we drove up, we hit the cloud layer and could see nothing. The landscape looks fairly young at this point (maybe 150 years of tree and fern growth over a lava flow), and then changes to a more recent lava flow that has very little but moss growing on it. It's like being on another planet. We stopped at mile marker 21 where there is a protected kipuka (an older area like an island that didn't get inundated with lava). Most kipukas are hills, but this one was a big cavity. It was one of few spots where you can still see I'iwi, a kind of rare honeycreeper ( a photo I pulled off the web, by Chandler Robbins). Dean and the boys saw one but I missed it. This kipuka is also the home of the native hawaiian raspberry that grows to the size of a small plumb (see Dash below before he eats one).

We had a snack on the 'a'a (very sharp lava that cut up my toes and fingers) and hollered at the boys to stop exploring on the rocks. This is not a safe place to send kids rock climbing. We continued on and drove above the cloud layer. We emerged onto the saddle with the two mountains towering on either side of us, in a clear blue sky. At about mile marker 28 from Hilo, you can take a right turn and head to the summit of Mauna Kea, over 13,000 feet! We drove up another 6 miles to the Visitor Center at about 9000 feet, where the air was perceptibly thinner and headache producing.

Dash and Nathan played on the computers, learned about the telescopes that are up at the summit, hiked through the protected silversword area and ate some astronaut ice cream. This red hill is neither Mauna Kea nor Mauna Loa, it's one of many pu'us on the saddle that I guess must be remnants from the original eruptions thousands of years ago. It was very red and imposing.

This photo is Mauna Loa viewed from Mauna Kea. Can you see all the black lines? Those are fairly recent lava flows (last 100 years). Our home is on the other side down at 4000 feet. Eeek, I just spent a few minutes Googling "Mauna Loa Eruptions Map" and got myself all freaked out.