Microblog

Pumped up my tires, rolled up one pant leg, hit the trails. At the Minneapolis Institute of Art, thousands of life jackets covered the columns to form an installation, “When Home Won’t Let You Stay.” Each life jacket was worn by a person fleeing war in Syria or Afghanistan.

Transformed this to this:

My plan for this afternoon: prepare then freeze ingredients.

On our sunny Minneapolis walk: abandoned grain elevators.

Tragically, it was easy to maintain social distance at Minneapolis/St. Paul MSP.

Au revoir Hawaii Big Island. It was time to pause our stay in Hawaii: tomorrow, a stay-at-home order goes into effect for the whole of Hawaii. We’ll return in December (ultimately it was December 2021) to complete the journey when the island will be back in business and trails have been reopened.

Picked some longan (also known as “dragon eye” or “eyeball”). We’re renting a cabin on a fruit farm where we can pick all the fruit we want. Longan is a smaller version of lychee.

Hiked another barricaded, abandoned road in another lovely valley. With the closure of Volcanoes National Park, and state and county parks, we’re improvising with abandoned roads, back-country roads and former sugar cane haulage roads.

On our hike: looked up at the canopy.

Revisited the abandoned valley we hiked through a couple days ago. This time we were able to ford a stream because the water level had dropped. We continued along the decaying road until we reached the ruins of a sugar refinery, slowly disappearing into the jungle.

Posted Balancing Coronavirus Risks.

View from an abandoned road in an abandoned valley. We clambered around a barrier then walked along the decaying road, down into the valley, past towering, lush vegetation, across a mossy bridge, and onwards towards the Pacific.

Our perches for the next week in a VRBO cottage on a fruit farm on the wet (east) side of Hawaii Big Island. We can help ourselves to fruit, including a lone avocado on the tree to the left, taunting us, out of reach.

On a Hilo walk, Mauna Kea peeked through the clouds. At 33,500 feet, it’s the highest mountain on Earth, measured from the seabed. It’s 13,500 feet above sea level, home to 13 international observatories funded by 11 nations. There’s snow at the summit and it’s 83°F in Hilo.

View from a barstool, Hilo, Hawaii Big Island.

Post-shower selfie airside at Auckland AKL. I didn’t take my backpack in the shower, but maybe I should’ve. Today we hiked a coastal path on Waiheke Island. Warm weather, steep gradients, and three layers of sunscreen made the shower a treat. Tonight we fly overnight to Honolulu.