Microblog

One view today, standing at about 4,000 feet, front to back: —Ohia (native) trees; —Kilauea Iki (crater): we walked across the lava lake formed in 1959;—Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, slowly erupting, volcanic gases rising; —Mauna Loa (mountain), 13,677 feet.

Eruption from Halemaʻumaʻu crater, with Venus looking on, from the Volcano House (Volcanoes National Park lodge) before stepping inside for dinner.

It was a good half-day hike from here (3,000 ft. above the Kona Coast), a continuous uphill walk to the top of this ~100,000 year-old volcanic cone, Puʻuwaʻaʻwaʻa. At the top we were comfortable in shorts and tees looking towards snow-capped Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa (13,000+ ft.).

Threw together lunch to eat back in our apartment with items from Safeway’s deli. The Spam musubi and steamed pork bun are definitely Hawaiian (tilting to Asia). The broccoli salad is more midwestern: cruciferous is appreciated. The Spam, from Austin, Minnesota, has gone native.

Watered our plants back in Minneapolis without getting out of bed in Kona.

Tiki shrine in our Kona rental. If Dwight sets up something similar in our Minneapolis home, I’ll call a neurologist.

Took an obligatory sunset shot.

Today, Dwight’s mom couldn’t find her recipe for lefse, a Christmas staple for Norwegian descendants. He forwarded a scan of the recipe she uses from our digital recipe book.

Posted Hawaii Snow Day.

Hiked, labs, Target run, late lunch in beach bar, nap. Life is good. Labs: Waited near palm trees for a blood draw to build the case to be accepted into a phase 2 clinical study. Grateful I can travel while staying on top of my prostate cancer.

Breakfast view, Kona rental apartment. When we were on Hawaii Big Island in March 2020, Covid restrictions meant we had to change our plans and return home before staying here. The owners let us move the reservation twice. Now, we’re picking up our 2020 trip where we left off.

Sea mist rolled in as we went for a walk between flights at Los Angeles LAX. In the foreground, a metro line is under construction, eclipsing the instantly recognizable Theme Building. LA is a great city to explore using transit, but, for us, not today.

Dinner tonight: tip-the-fridge galette, with a tip-the-fridge salad on the side. Tomorrow we travel.

I always smile when I cycle past Lizard Lounge.

Did something totally nerdy: bought a steeply discounted TicWatch Pro 3 GPS watch. It arrived about 3 hours later, although I had not specified a rush. Spent much of Sunday afternoon coming up with use cases to address requirements I didn’t have when I woke up this morning.

It may not be the prettiest cycling route, but it does have a gritty, desolate beauty. Today, Saturday, was a good time to explore this industrial area as there were no heavy trucks on the road.