Highlight of my trip by far, might even be in the top 5 of all places I have been. I knew I wanted to to see this observatory but I had no idea how much I would like it. The pictures don't do it justice. To start the story from the beginning, I tried to book a tour to the top of Mauna Kea but they were all booked, I was on waiting lists but never got a call that I could go. My last night here I just decided to drive up to the visitors center and see what was going on, maybe I could latch on to van or se if I could get up to the top or at least 1/2 way. Everyone had been telling me you had to have a 4X4 to go to the Observatory. Well, I went to the visitor center and I did not see anything that said you can't go, just signs that said "We Strongly recommend, you have a 4X4 truck to go to the summit." So I drove my Nissan coupe on up to the summit. I was the only car at the top.(got some funny looks) 14,000 feet in a Nissan! I'm sure there are times when you have to have a 4X4 but there was no snow and the roads were pretty good so I just pushed it on up to the top. So glad I did this! Anyone who comes to the Big Island this is a MUST DO! After the sun went down it got even better. The stars were so big and seemed to be reachable. None of the pictures after dark turned out .Believe me the best stars I have ever seen up to now have been in the Boundry Waters, the stars at Mauna Kea make those look silly. I thought I could grab the Big Dipper by the handle. I saw a shooting star and thought I should duck.
No comments:
Post a Comment