Up hopes

This morning my only goal was to get ready for the big day that lie ahead. Because our departure for the base camp 9000' up Mauna Kea wasn't until 10am, I slept in an extra hour or so today. Once up I showered and fried myself up some eggs and finished up my website entry for yesterday. Just to make sure everything was still go for today's visit to the Keck Observatory at the summit of Mauna Kea, I walked over to the pay phone nearby and dialed the seven numbers needed to get me in touch with our contact at Keck Headquarters. The receptionist connected me with my man and I asked about the status of today's trip. He sounded relieved as he told me of his attempts to get a hold of me. Due to some problems with his ears and sinuses there was no possibility of his summitting today for if he did he would risk blowing either one. Only somewhat shocked by this I sympathized with him and his illness and wish him good health and good luck as he was also trying to contact the producer from 20/20 and the ESPN guy that were also going up. Now I had to tell Kristin the sorry news. I was taking this all pretty well. So well, in fact, that when I informed Kristin she didn't believe me at all. It took her a few repetitions and a serious look until she realized that I wasn't joking around and that I was sorry. No tears were shed and no frustration was taken out but we both nevertheless were kinda' bummed out over the whole thing. Others in our group bid us their sorrow upon hearing the news. It was a much appreciated sentiment that really made me feel like everyone was pretty excited that Kristin and I had this opportunity. Although disappointing, being denied our visit to the observatory is an experience that I've not ever been acquainted with. This being the case I most literally didn't know what I was missing, thus I didn't miss it. I'm young. I made a contact at Keck. I can get to Hawaii again. It'll happen.

With all this free time on our hands we could devote our day to the research and writing of our final Natural History of Hawaii papers! Kristin took off with the Benhams and heBrook to Kona so she could snorkel with the Black Durgeon Triggerfish (the subject of her paper). I decided to stay behind and make progress on my paper here at KMC. Julie and Jerry were around all day working on their papers as well. We all made sure there was ample time alotted for brain breaks. One was a party on the nearby playground, another was a contimplative stroll out to the caldera rim, and yet another was a sugar fix trip to the general store. All in all I wrote about a paragraph on my paper and spent ample time still getting facts and figures that will go into it straight. I think it turned out to be a pretty productive day.

One van returned from Punaluu beach where they had spent the day swimming with turtles and paddling around the relatively calm ocean waters on a Punaluu man's canoe. Most everyone in that group was not to be seen until early evening when most of us headed to the visitor's center to see a film and hear a brief talk about the endangered Hawksbilled Turtle. I learned that it's a very precious and sacred animal that is on the brink of vanishing forever. Conservation of habitat and of hatching grounds are key to the expansion of the species to stronger numbers. A sign of how powerful the turtles weigh on some people's minds is obvious because three people in my class are doing their final papers on it. The crowds fizzled from the session and our ride back to KMC was brief. A few hours, a shabby pizza, and an exciting game of War with Julie later and I was just about ready for bed. Typing this entry is all that's keeping me awake. I hate to say this but today was a prime example of what happens when I get my hopes up.

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Tue. January 25, 2000, 11:59pm PST

Up hopes

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