Happy Bryt Day!

Roxie's birthday is tomorrow, so we celebrated with a cake tonight! The university made a cake and I love the spelling!

Greg Hatch
Managing Director
Alvarez and Marsal Business Consulting
700 Louisiana Street Suite 900
Houston, TX 77002
Mobile 832.492.4023

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On top of the world / last day in Hawaii

Sadly, this was our last day in Hawaii. Once we got up, ate and packed up for the trip home, we headed out to tackle the highest mountain on the island, Mauna Kea. It is over 13,700 feet in elevation and has several world class observatories on top. It is one of the few places on earth that you can drive from sea level to almost 14,000 feet in a day. That also makes it tricky because you can get altitude sickness if you go up that quick.

The view of the mountaintop during the drive up

We loved these signs on the way up to the visitors center.

They have a visitors center that you stop at the 9,200 foot level that you can rest at for 30 minutes to make sure you aren’t going to get sick. We did so, weren’t sick, so we started to make our way further up the mountain.

We saw this white Bronco at the visitors center with the AWESOME license plate. We didn't get a picture at the time, but did at the top. We also thought the picture below of the Bronco driving was great.

After the visitors center, for the next five miles, it is a very steep gravel road. We were glad for the 4WD jeep at this point! We took it slow getting up there, but were rewarded with some great views at the top. And, yes, it was a little chilly at the top –probably around 45 degrees.

The top of Mauna Loa from the top of Mauna Kea

We went inside of one of the observatories and got to appreciate the sheer size of the telescopes and the mirrors. Very impressive.

The trip took longer than expected on the mountain, so we had to cut our other items a little short. On the way back into Hilo, we stopped at a waterfall, but that was about it. We ate lunch, picked up our luggage and headed to the airport.

We got our luggage into security with no issues this time and had good flights home. We had a great trip and look forward to the next time!

Lava!!!

We made it up bright and early this morning – even with a 2:30 wake-up call! We were so excited about our trip. Once we got ready and packed up(with water and raincoats and cameras), we headed out. We met Chris at about 3:45. Chris Arruda was our guide (check out his website if you are interested in a GREAT tour) and is a native Hawaiian. We got to the end of the road and started our walk at 4:00 in the morning. We were the only two on the tour, which was nice. Of course, it is pitch black except for the eerie orange glow of the lava flows in the distance (which, for future reference, really don’t show up well on your camera from far distances – even with a tripod).



We walked for over a mile across fairly recent lava flows. Our headlamps were live savers, along with the walking sticks that Chris provided. He explained the lava types and the flows that destroyed his village over 20 years ago. He also stressed safety factors along the way. As we got closer, he pointed out where we should run to for safety if the lava flows intensified / erupted. Always a little unsettling to get warnings on a tour!



Once we got to the area where the lava was flowing into the sea, we got a sense of how far away we would have been if we had visited the public viewing site the night before. We would have been sorely disappointed. When we got there, it was still dark, but you could see the lava flowing into the ocean from three different vents. Chris told us that it was a good night because you could really see the lava very well. It was challenging to get good photos (as we found out later) because it was so dark AND windy – it would move the tripod around. We did get some great shots, but we took a lot to get them!







The top of a burned out road sign covered by lava

Really cool folded lava that we walked on

Some of the scenes that we saw at the very beginning when we got to the vent

Lava flow video 1

These next four pictures show a new outflow that we captured right as it started. Very cool.

As we were viewing, the lava would continually change. It would break out of new places seemingly every few minutes. You would see steam coming out of the ground and then a few minutes later, a flow would start pouring from the earth. Very cool – and we captured some of them on film and video. Chris kept saying that this was one of the better nights and that it was really putting on a show for us.

The other cool thing (for me) was the interaction of the lava with the ocean. It is continually pouring into the ocean and the waves will crash against the lava. If you were lucky, you could see the lava floating on the ocean amidst all of the steam.

Lava video 2 - notice the molten lava floating in the ocean towards the end of the video clip

Lava video 3

Once it got light, you could see it a little more clearly. Unfortunately, it was a cloudy morning (and a little rainy – surprise!) and we didn’t get good sunrise pictures. As it got lighter, we moved around the crater to get different views. As we were getting towards the end of the tour, Chris asked if I wanted to go down on the shelf and put my boot and walking stick in the lava. Of course, I said yes – why wouldn’t you! So, we started to make our way down the lava cliff towards the shelf. It was a little tricky, but we made it down to the next to the last level. Rachael was taking pictures at the top of the crater the entire time. We were about 10 feet away and you can feel the heat and actually hear the lava moving, crackling and expanding. The flow we were near was slow moving, but pretty wide. I started to video it to the hear the lava and then all of a sudden, the main vent that was about 100 feet away exploded and the shelf in that area gave way. Chris told me we had to get out of there immediately! So, it shut my camera off and we started to make our way back up. Chris was pretty nervous about heading back the way we came – which was towards the main vent. We didn’t have many other options, so we quickly made our way back up. While a little disappointed to be so close and not do what we intended, it is much better to be safe then sorry!

These pictures are of the lava flow we were going down to "visit"

Chris by the Lava

As close as I will get to lava (in all likelihood)

These photos are what was happening while we were scrambling to get back on high ground

This is the lava flow we were going down to put the walking stick into



My video close to the lava flow - listen closely for Chris telling us we had to go



This video gives you a sense of what happened to the main vent after it collapsed and why we had to get out


We pretty much wrapped up after that and made the long trip back to our car. We went a different way back – all along the coastline. Chris continued to give us the history of the lava flows and point out other areas along the way. He was a great guide and really enjoyed our trip. It is one of the coolest things we have ever done and made the early morning wake-up totally worth it.

According to Hawaiian legend, this flower has a "twin" in the mountains that represents two separated lovers. The mountain version has the top half of the flower.

We headed back to the bed and breakfast to get something to eat. Once we did that and cleaned up, we decided to continue on with our planned day. Surprisingly, we weren’t tired because we were so fired up from the lava trip.

We went to the top of the Kilauea crater. They have a great visitor center and a lot of hikes. We decided to start around the far edge and look at the current crater. The area is huge, but the only activity is from a fairly large opening that is emitting steam and gases. They actually have about half the trails closed because of the poisonous gases coming from the vent.

Our next stop was a lava tube. Hundreds of years ago, the volcano erupted and left an open tube that lava flowed through. You can walk through for about a ¼ mile. Very cool.

We ended up with about a 2 hour hike down and through the still steaming crater of the 1959 eruption. Kilauea Iki erupted in 1959/1960 and filled this crater with over 400 feet of lava. It has cooled over the years and now is a trail. Plants have already started growing in a few places, but it is pretty desolate.

The view from the top of the crater - we walked a long way!

Once we finished with the crater, we got something to eat and headed for the coast one last time. There are some tidal pools that offer some good snorkeling, so we geared up and went in. It was pretty interesting snorkeling in these pools and we got to see some good stuff.

We were pretty wiped out after that, so we headed back, cleaned up and got something to eat. By that point, we were exhausted from a long day and crashed back at the room.