Hawaiʻi | New Year 2006 |
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12/28 |12/29 | 12/30 | 12/31 | 01/01 | 01/02
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Immediately after the stroke of midnight, as fireworks were just starting to go off in the neighborhood about a mile away, the wind picked up to a steady 20mph or more. We had all been planning to sleep out on the beach, under the stars, but when the wind brought rain, and it didn't let up after a few minutes, we realized that we'd need to come up with another plan. In the end, it was decided that Sarah and Mike would stay in their tent with a couple of the blankets and one sleeping bag, and Liz and I would make ourselves into a sort of taco, with half the tarp and blankets beneath us, and the other half folded over top, with the crease side of the tarp windward. After a few hours of elusive moments of sleep and a lot of waking to the loose tarp whipping in the wind, or Liz's head in a puddle, I suddenly felt my feet get VERY wet. I sat up quickly, and stared toward the sea. Liz asked me what was wrong, but I hesitated because I didn't want to alarm her until my suspicion was confirmed. When I shared with her that I thought I just felt a wave touch my feet, she was incredulous. We were camped above the high-tide line that was there from the previous day, and the waves looked like they were crashing far away. Just then a huge wave reared up out of the surf and careened toward us. Liz scrambled up the beach and I tried to gather the blankets, to no avail. Our tarp and bedding were half-soaked by the encroaching wave. We cleared off the beach and got the car keys from Sarah and Mike, then spent the rest of the night in the car, sleeping happily. At least until the ferrel roosters started crowing well before dawn. By morning the rain had mostly stopped, but heavy clouds remained. We broke camp and headed home, and then napped and read through the rainy morning. In the afternoon we went to the Bishop Museum to check out the new science center and some of the exhibits on Hawaiian history. The planetarium was fun, though not conducive to photos, and we saw a hula show put on by some young girls from the local hula school, but for some reason got no pictures of that either. We were tired, as you can see from the images below. At the musuem there was a "non-endemic species" garden, to point out that most of the wildlife in Hawaiʻi was introduced by humans—either the Europeans in the 18th century, or the original human settlers thousands of years ago. Many plants were brought in for agriculture or aesthetics, and many animals stowed away on ships. Hawaiʻi must truly have been a paradise before the mosquito found its way there! (although, being immune to their itch-inducing venom, I actually don't mind them much). In the garden was a chamelon, and, with no explanation whatsoever, a saddle. 12/28 | 12/29 | 12/30 | 12/31 | 01/01 | 01/02back to photos |