Top of the world

Some pics from my trip to the Big Island earlier this year. While I was there I went to the top of Mauna Kea. If you look at the photos from the bottom up, I started my day at the ranger station which isn't in the photo, but this is a photo from said location. As you can see, I'm already above the clouds. Turning around from this location you can see the side of the mountain against the incredibly blue sky. In the third picture I'm in sitting in the crater bowl between the "peak" and the observatory. 14,000 feet doesn't sound like a lot, but I started my morning at sea level and with the sudden change in elevation, at this point I have a splitting headache and am pretty short of breath. I spent 5 hours up here tooling around and taking pictures waiting for the sunset and by the end of the day I felt like I'd been in a boxing ring for the same amount of time. The next photo is one of the large telescopes. Here it's closed. There were some people milling about the inside and I think I could have gone inside one, but I didn't jump on the chance and I missed my opportunity. The next photo is three of the large telescopes. If I remember right (and I'm not sure I do) there were either 8 or 9 of these large scopes near the summit. Speaking of summits, the next photo is the geological marker at the peak. The last three photos are self explanatory. Hope everyone is doing well. Stay tuned for an update on the house remodel. We've got our budget outline and will be approaching our lender in the very near future. We'll keep you posted as info becomes available. :jnl