Vancouver airport Is very nice

They seem to be really into their indigenous people here...

Sleepy in Vancouver

I have arrived in Vancouver and will sit around here for another 3 hours before i leave. These pics are of the sunrise as we took off. Did you know that the sun doesn't come up until 7:15 now?? I was shocked!

Say goodbye to these!!!

(I wonder if the have breakfast burritos in china)

At the airport

At SFO, through security, & getting some phone charging in before I go to my tiny plane to Canada.

Can that plane really get me to Canada??

Despite all of my crazy traveling, Dopplr says I move at the speed of a Giant Tortoise

The Giant Tortoise shall now be the official symbol of the Pink Polynesian.

It occurs to me that the tortoise below does not look giant at all.

and here's what my next 3 months look like:

Live from Kilauea

Current location: paradise

Current location

Today we drove a beautiful road to Hilo

And the proceeded to not see Hilo at all. Again. Instead, we went to visit our friend, Woody, and see his beautiful house and property (on the volcano). He said that he had a lava tube, and we both sort of expected a 20 foot tube in his yard, but no, he has 2 tubes, and the one we went in was not only gigantic, but also at least 1/4 mile before we would have had to belly our way into the next gallery. It was really amazing! Here's Chris and I in the tube:

Road goat!

A Hawaiian classic!

Island view: the north shore

That hazy mountain in the back left is Haleakala on Maui. This island is largely sand-free as it is very young. Mostly you get sharp lava called a'a (ah-ah). This is also the noise you make if you walk across it.

These were in the Louis Vuitton store window in Waikaloa

Because there nothing like polka-dot tentacles and weird giant eye flowers to sell handbags!

In lieu of something interesting from today

Here's some pictures from yesterday! We went to the summit of Mauna Kea, elevation: 13,796 feet. I got dark vision around the outside at some point and got weak enough to grab for help (almost passed out)(it's really thin air up there), but it was super cool anyway. Also, if you ever do this, take them seriously when they say it is freezing (literally) at the top. By the end, i was wearing full long underwear, fleece lined sweatshirt, regular shirt, courteroy pants, a full face ski-warmer thing, a hat, and had a down comforter on me and I was still cold. It was much colder than Antarctica up there. I'm not kidding.

Here's some pics:

Chris and then me, with Keck I and II behind us:

Keck II up close

Some of the other telescopes up there:

Nothing interesting to report today

Other than I got some Hawaiian fabric to make a bustle dress with (maybe I should be posting this news on my costume blog).

We went to the pool and walked around town and had a not-so-awesome dinner at Roy's.

Tomorrow we think we are going to Hilo. :-)

Sent from my iPhone

Here's a preview on Chris' computer of last night's star gazing.

Which will probably take him 4 months to process and post...

Sunset at the summit of Mauna Kea

Good advice!

Hello from the visitor center in Mauna Kea!

We are headed up to the summit to visit the Keck telescope and watch the sunset from the world's tallest mountain. Tonight, we will rerun to the VC to do stargazing with some of these telescopes!

Man with fire

The Samoans, who I must be related to.

The howl and holler like me!

More from the Maori

Maori dancers from (New Zealand)

Fire hula

Tahitian dancers!

Some luau hula

Sunset from the luau

Live, from the chopper,

If you zoom in, the orange stuff is red hot magma...

For realz people!

While we were out...

Rachel went out in the town with our dapper boys! Evidently, they went to a black tie affair!

Just finished swimming with Manta Rays!!!

It was amazing! At least 10 huge mantas in our area and one bumped me! They were beautiful. Highly recommended!

And now I have achieved my minimum beverage limit with a dark beer sampler at Kona Brewing Co. And also ginger aid, which is crazy gingery lemonade. Yummy, but really zesty!

Sup from Kilauea!

It sounds like thunder up here because there's an eruption going on down there.

Grilled cheese in paradise

This guy keeps trying to sell us auto insurance.

Current location:

Proof!

We are watching people jump off cliffs at the southern most point of the US

(yes, even more far south than Guam or Puerto Rico)

Manta rays!!

So it's super hard to tell, but embiggen this picture and there's an arc of white foam at the top. Right under that is a white spot. That's a manta ray. For realz. I'm watching him dance!

Beautiful hotel!

Some god light

This is the view from our sliding glass door

Aloha!

We have arrived!

Hawaii. Tomorrow.

I'll be updating with pics and stories whenever I can!