My Fun Saturday!

You may be asking - "now where is she?"  This is another look at my island home!  Yes, this snow covered mountain is in Hawaii: Mauna Kea rises nearly 14,000 feet above sea level (4260 meters) and is often covered with snow in the winter.  Yesterday, Bob and I decided to take a drive around the base of the mountain on Mana Road (the turn is just after the beautiful town of Waimea) and then head up to the summit of Mauna Kea.

Incredible!  That's the only way I can describe it!  Green like you've never seen before, and grass that is soft and pillowy and deep.  The road wraps around the mountain for about 40 miles of grasslands, forests, scrub and volcanic cindercones.

After our picnic, we were on our way again....

At about 20 miles in, there's a sign "David Douglas" that leads to a short trail.  At the end of that trail, surrounded by Douglas Firs (the tree named after him), is a monument marking the place of his death.  A botanist in the 1800s, he was on the island cataloging the diversity of plants and fell into a pit dug to catch bulls and pigs (or maybe fell into his own murder....).  Along that trail were beautiful flowers and fruits - passion, apple, daisies.

 

We even caught glimpses of the Hawaii state bird, the Nene (pronounced nay-nay).

And finally, the summit of Mauna Kea in time for sunset!! Here's yesterday's one minute timelapse movie taken by one of the observatories - midnight to midnight.

Have a blessed week!!