So this is a much needed update.  My brother came to visit me from the 5th until the 14th, and we went pretty much everywhere on the island.  It was a bit stressful at times, trying to get all of my schoolwork done so that I could adventure places afterward, but definitely a good time.  Some of the places I went…

Andrew, Tara, and I drove through Waipi’o Valley, which is absolutely gorgeous!!! And there are actually houses in the valley.  I cannot imagine living somewhere like that.

Driving up to the northern tip…

Akaka Falls…

We went to Mauna Kea and it was clear this time!!! Somebody working there said that they have clear skies 340 days out of the year… so upsetting that the first time I went it was completely foggy.  So it was absolutely amazing!  That is 100% now my favorite place I’ve ever been to.  First we drove up to the summit of the mountain and then walked a short ways to make it to the very top, which is 13,796 feet.  We watched the sunset from up there, which was stunning, and then we made our way back down to the visitor’s center, which is at about 9,000 feet.  Once it got dark, the stars came out, and it was incredible.  They set up telescopes to look through and had someone talking to us for about an hour or so, pointing out different stars and explaining what different things were in the sky.  I have definitely never seen so many stars before, and I was even able to see the Andromeda Galaxy.  Mauna Kea is one of the best spots for seeing the stars in the world, due to it’s elevation, clear skies, lack of light pollution, and a whole bunch of reasons that were explained to us.

When the sun goes down, it actually casts a shadow of the mountain onto the clouds and sky behind it. Pretty neat, eh?

There are 13 observatories at the top of the mountain from all different countries.  NASA has one up there as well.

Beautiful sunset above the clouds.

Unfortunately, getting a picture of the stars was impossible.  I so wish it wasn’t.

Andrew and I also went to go see the lava from Kilauea.  We went with a guide, along with two other people from France, and it was a 2.5 mile hike each way, over old lava rocks, in the middle of nowhere, to get to the lava.  It was well worth the money and the walk, though, because standing about 20-30 feet away from lava is definitely the craziest and coolest thing I have ever done.  At first we were at a farther distance from the flow, but wanting to get closer, we actually ended up standing on top of the lava tube.  (The lava is not coming out of the top of the volcano.  It’s flowing underneath the ground, in a lava tube, and then emptying out by the water.)  The rocks were extremely hot, my feet were burning, and when I looked down at where I was standing, I could see the lava (is it considered magma?) glowing through the cracks.  Not the safest place in the world to be, but it was absolutely incredible!!!  We were the last group of people out there… just 5 of us and some lava, and we didn’t get back to civilizations until after midnight.

The last few days he was here, Andrew and I drove over to Kona.  It was very nice.  We kayaked and went snorkeling, and even saw what I believe were whales.  The whales come over here for the winter time, so it seems like it was a little too early for them to be around, but they were definitely too large to be dolphins.  We also saw some ancient petroglyphs and enjoyed the lovely beaches on the western side of the Big Island.

It was a pretty good week, I think. :)