Last night we witnessed the workings of the Hawaiian fire goddess, Pele. In the dark we trekked almost a mile on rippled volcanic rock to see hot flowing lava spitting as it plunged into the cool ocean water.
Roo was a trooper wearing his exploring hard hat complete with miner’s lamp. During the day Monday we visited the Volcanoes National Park to see one of Mount Kilauea’s smoking cauldrons.
Today we visited the
Imiloa Astronomy Center. We learned of the scientific skill employed by the Polynesians who braved the waters to Hawaii and of the research being conducted by the handful of observatories located on the snow capped mountain,
Maunakea. We had noticed the unusual street lights in
Hilo that are yellow instead of white and reasoned that maybe they were chosen by the city because of cost or environmental concerns. The guide at the center corrected our thought by explaining that the lights are supplied by the observatories residing at 14,000 feet. They are sodium lamps and create less light interference in space than white lights. The scientist in me loves that sort of discovery. The center is very interactive and
Roo enjoyed playing spaceship as he bounced from exhibit to exhibit.
Above: Learning about the light spectrum and an infrared camera.
Last night we witnessed the workings of the Hawaiian fire goddess, Pele. In the dark we trekked almost a mile on rippled volcanic rock to see hot flowing lava spitting as it plunged into the cool ocean water. Roo was a trooper wearing his exploring hard hat complete with miner’s lamp. During the day Monday we visited the Volcanoes National Park to see one of Mount Kilauea’s smoking cauldrons.
Today we visited the Imiloa Astronomy Center. We learned of the scientific skill employed by the Polynesians who braved the waters to Hawaii and of the research being conducted by the handful of observatories located on the snow capped mountain, Maunakea. We had noticed the unusual street lights in Hilo that are yellow instead of white and reasoned that maybe they were chosen by the city because of cost or environmental concerns. The guide at the center corrected our thought by explaining that the lights are supplied by the observatories residing at 14,000 feet. They are sodium lamps and create less light interference in space than white lights. The scientist in me loves that sort of discovery. The center is very interactive and Roo enjoyed playing spaceship as he bounced from exhibit to exhibit. 
Above: Learning about the light spectrum and an infrared camera. 
1 comment:
looks like you are having a great time - btw, the elephants seemed to be treated ok, but it was a little weird. See you soon - when are you coming back??
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