6 posts tagged “photos”
On Friday night, Tina and I went to go see the new Pirates of Caribbean movie.
Saturday, woke up at 6 am to go climbing at Castle Rock with Chris and a crew of people from the Bay Area Outdoor Adventure Club. Dinner & drinks at Suppenkuche, then fell dead asleep. Sue hooked me up with a sweet T-shirt, too.
On Sunday, Tina and I went to Kara’s Cupcakes in the Marina, then to Marin to go hunting for bicycles, jerseys and planters. Went to the Ducati dealership too. Dealt with a parking douchebag in Mill Valley and took Pista to the dogrun. Watched a documentary on Fred Phelps, and slept well (again).
On Monday, woke up ad took Pista to the dogpark. Rode my fixie to Mill Valley for the Memorial Day parade & pancake breakfast. Went to a barbecue at Chris’ house, drank divine wasabi bloody marys, and ate awesome cookies and burgers. Then went sofa shopping with the crew and returned home for some dinner & watched the Lost season finale.
Before the unfortunate incident with my foot I drove & hiked up to the top of Mauna Kea. This is kind of cool for two reasons:
- Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain in the world, measured from the base (33,474 feet).
- At the summit is the largest collection of observatories in the world, including the Keck Telescopes, the Gemini Observatory, the Subaru Observatory, the United Kingdom Infrared Telescope, the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope and the Submillimeter Array.
There's also a lake up there, about 30 minutes from the road at 13000 feet. It was here that I decided that my express Jeep elevator to the summit was gonna have to pause. I started feeling dizzy and a little short of breath, and came pretty close to going back down. I didn't, and after 20 minutes or so hiking (just out of view of the car, road & civilization in general) up the pumice/dirt/lava mountain my heart stopped racing and I could walk around at will. Yay quitting smoking!
After the requisite half-hour, I crested the last hill and looked down on this eerie lake, completely out of place in this moonscape. I walked down into the crater and circled the lake, finding a small patch of life clinging on to the edge of the water. The air and sun were unlike any place I've ever been, mica crisp and glinting. I read that most of the UV protection is gone at this altitude, so wearing sun protection is a really good idea.
I hiked up the far side of the lake, climbing up huge boulders and found a USGS marker. I stooped down to photograph it and when I turned around I saw two people in the distance. They were hiking around Mauna Kea with their daughter who showed up a few minutes later. They were from Hilo, and had parked their car in a spot much closer to the lake (sans crazy uphill hike). Oddly I saw their car parked in the same spot when I came back down the mountain a couple hours later.
I got back to the car, feeling ever more confident with my new high-altitude lungs. Drove the rest of the way up to the summit where the observatories were. It was some serious Evil Genius NASA shit. I kept looking around for guys in silver jumpsuits driving golf carts.
Determined to get to the top of the mountain, I had one more climb. Or should I say, slide down a stupidly steep slope on the wrong side of a guardrail and then a climb. On top of Mauna Kea is a traditional Hawaiian shrine, constructed of tied wood, feathers, stone and offerings. It seemed right that the highest piece of land in the Pacific wasn't bereft of something truly human. The only other thing on the summit was another USGS marker, uncerimoniously sunk into a concrete/steel post.
From the west coast of Hawaii (Big Island).
Edit: Replaced broken photo.
Take a photo of something orange.
I ♥ orange. Hugely.
San Francisco never fails in the random WTF department.
Edit: Further explanation.
So every evening after work I go for a ride. Yesterday evening as I passed through Aquatic Park (next to Fisherman's Wharf) I saw this crowd standing around a couple cop cars near the bleachers between the bay and the museum.
I initially thought someone was either hurt or committing some heinous crime like being homeless in tourist attraction, but as I got closer I realized everyone was either A) laughing or B) filming something with their digital cameras/camcorders/phones/whatever. Naturally I joined the fray, getting these shots of the police car adorned with marine mammal sporting an electronic fauxhawk complete with antennas. No giant lasers, I'm afraid.
