Hawaii: Episode 3 - Ascend Into the Mountain

So I wrote this post while we were in Hawaii, but the internet was so slow it couldn't post it so here it is. I'll do a day by day just like a meant to before we ran into internet troubles.

"I'm sorry it's taken so long to get this post out. This update is for Sunday, but we only just figured out the internet so we've been living without technology for the past few days. Very relaxing actually. So on Sunday we went to church in Hilo. To be honest, I was expecting it to be a little different. The speakers were new to Hawaii so they didn't start their talks with "Aloha" and the Bishop and missionary who were the only other ones to speak said it to quietly and reverently that I almost missed it. Then when the congregation answered they almost seemed morose. Church was still good, but not what I expected.

Very appropriately for the Sabbath day, Andrew and I spent the rest of the day on Mouna Kea. The tallest mountain in the world. Yes, taller than Mount Everest if you measure from where the mountain originates in the water. We drove up to 9,000 feet level and spent almost two hours there acclimating to the lower air pressure. Honestly the only reason we took so long at that level was that the rangers had us watch an hour long video before we could drive to the top. Then Andrew and I took our wonderful Jeep and we drove to the top. We picked up some Canadians on the way and ended up spending the rest of the day with them. They thought they had a 4WD car but realized they didn't at the 9,000' point, so they hitched a ride with us. It was fun. The wife only spoke French and the husband spoke broken English so it really was an interesting ride.

I've got tons of pictures of the drive up but the internet here won't let me upload them so we'll show them to everyone when we get back. At the top we got to see the inside of the keck telescopes (don't worry Stina, Andrew videoed a lot of it so you'll get to see it too) and the outside of all the others. What I think I remember most about it though it that it was super cold at the 13,000' peak. Really really cold.

We got to see a beautiful sunrise. It was worth waiting the three hours. The reason I said toward the beginning that it was very appropriate to go to the top of the mountain on Sunday is because mountains are definitely a place where we feel closer to God. The Hawaiians feel the same way and there is a controversy there because the top of this mountain is a holy place to the hawaiians. It's where they build their altars and ask for blessings. Because of this they were really upset when they saw what the astronomers were doing to the land. Now it seems like there is a compromise and science and religion are living in harmony. I loved to see that there."

I'll follow up with the other days later. Thanks for following and allow me to beg for comments. It lets me know that you guys are indeed reading and not accidentally opening my page. Love you all!