(I'm just gonna use this for vacation stuff so you all can skip it if you want)

rainier peeking above the clouds! kind of a hard shot it was behind us and to the left.

13.5 hours door to door, not bad at all

Yesterday was chill, getting gear, showing Tril the island, relaxing after flight day.

today was snorkeling! Captain monument on the Hawai'i island is a good snorkel spot a bunch of boats go to. always fun

Also much easier for me to use my monofin off a boat haha

One lightly roasted doephin

also the worst form of gender affirmation: dude being creepy to me

Also fun fact: most beach sand is fish shit

Went to the "gently sloping" trail again today. Had to bail shortly in. Thanks COVID!

Drive was pretty as always though. Stopped at an L&L bbq on the way back, and had lunch with so..many . chicken.

"You gonna drop that?"

then, lazy day before snorkeling tonight. And pretty sunsets!

Snorkeling summary: HOLY FUCK

Night snorkel with 6!? manta rays. Who btw have no concept of "personal space" so they came within inches of us repeatedly. (and kept running into each other lol)

It was also a near private tour, just us and two others

pics tomorrow, tonight is shower then flop @.@

ok no pics yet

Today was a late start so we "only" hiked a high altitude forest along the saddle road (gorgeous), visited an active volcano and set the telescope to marvel and share (amazing) and drove up a second volcano to park at 9000 feet and stargaze

that last was...words fail. we didn't expect much with the clouds, but we got through them and were treated to the most amazing landscape even before getting to the visitors center

and then SO MANY STARS. and moon and planets and!

The downside of the Mauna Kea visitors center drive though- other people didn't understand "turn off your headlights", blinding us repeatedly. It was cold, and the air was so thin. Just walking to the visitors center was a chore at first!

and the drive to/from was TERRIFYING. Steep enough that pedal to the floor got me 40 on the way up, idiots kept riding my ass on the way down. and the rental had shit wiper blades

but the stars...! I saw the milky way even, faintly