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James W. Young, Professional Photographer

Trip to Hawaii - December, 2010    -    PART 1

On December 22, Karen and I departed Los Angeles International Airport bound
for Hilo.  We stayed in Hilo (on the Big Island) for 6 days, then returned back
to Honolulu for the last 2 days of our vacation.  The weather was reasonable for
everything we had scheduled.  I gave an astronomy presentation to the people in
Hilo at the Imiloa Astronomy Center and a Stake Fireside for the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints regarding the creation as seen through the eyes of
an astronomer (all with Karen's help).  We visited two ham radio operators who
reside in the Hilo area, Richard (AH7G) and Barbara (NH7FY) Darling, as well
as used their ham radio gear to talk to stateside friends on the Triple H Net.

We took a helicopter ride over Volcano National Park, traveled around the entire
island on Christmas Day, and were given a tour of the Gemini North Telescope up
at the Mauna Kea Observatories.  We hiked to the extreme north point of the
island, as well as the south point to photograph waves breaking against the shore.

After arriving in Honolulu, we toured Pearl Harbor, visited the Arizona Memorial,
The Dole Plantation, The Polynesian Cultural Center, and the LDS Temple in Laie.
We wrapped up our vacation with a moderate 1 hour guided hike through the dense
forest east of Honolulu to see Likeke Falls before returning to Los Angeles early
on December 31.


December 22, 2010

Los Angeles to Honolulu, then to Hilo on the Big Island

Contrail
The contrail shadow from our jet aircraft over the Pacific Ocean

Glory
The 'glory' as seen from our aircraft on the clouds below.

HonoluluAirport
Honolulu International Airport

HawaiiClouds
Storm Clouds as we flew from Honolulu to Hilo (on the Big Island)

HiloGarden
Lili'Uokalani Gardens next to our Naniloa Volcanoes Resort Hotel in Hilo

Garden2
Lili'Uokalani Park and Gardens

December 23, 2010

RainbowFalls
Rainbow Falls just east of Hilo

Flower
Flowers in the forest near Rainbow Falls

Jim
Karen catches me in a joyful moment at Rainbow Falls

Karen
Karen checking her photography images

Bird
Karen catches an unusual bird perched on a nearby railing

Volcano
Activity from The Halema'uma'u Crater in the Kilauea Caldera in Volcanoes NP


December 24, 2010

Flower
Flowers on the trail to Akaka Falls State Park 12 miles northwest of Hilo

AkakaFalls
Akaka Falls

LittleFalls
A small creek in Akaka Falls State Park

VeteranCemetery
Alae Veteran's Cemetery 3 miles north of Hilo

UsHelicopter
Safari Helicopter ride over Volcanoes NP

VolcanoSmoke
Napau volcano crater in the National Park

Lava
The lava flow from the 1980's

Hilo
The city of Hilo, Hawai'i

GroundVolcano
The activity in Halema'uma'u crater as seen from the Jaggar Museum in the NP

FlowerBushes
Hawaiian flowers on the road to the Punaluu County Beach Park

LakeinPark
A small pond in the Punaluu County Beach Park

SouthPoint
South Point (the very southern point of the Big Island)

SouthPointWave
Karen captures the waves breaking against the cliffs at South Point

SouthPointWaves
10-foot waves offshore at South Point

HiloatNight
The lights of Hilo to the left, with the hotel lights onto the grounds below our
 hotel room.  Mauna Kea is 28 miles in the distance at right center, with stars
of the 'square' of Pegasus just above the observatory


December 25, 2010

Drove around the entire Big Island

HiloMaunaKea
Mauna Kea Observatory, 28 miles west from our hotel in Hilo


AkakaMaunaKea
Karen's image of the Mauna Kea Observatory, 22 miles away, taken from the
road to Akaka Falls State Park


Cactus
Cactus at about 3500 feet off the Kohala Mountain Road, 8 miles northwest of
Waimea

BlueFlowers
Blue Flowers next to the Kohala Mountain Road

CactusField
The cactus field looking west

LookingWest
The breakwater and harbor of Kawaihae as seen from the Kohala Mountain Road,
about 5 miles to the west

Cows
These cows were really skittish of us, and they moved quickly with numerous
white cranes leading their way, off the Kohala Mountain Road.

Waves
The Kohala Mountain Road comes into the small town of Hawi, the most northern
town on the Big Island.  3 miles to the northwest lies the Upolu Airport.  With
heavy rains prior to our arrival, we had to walk 1/2 mile east of the runway to
 get to the very north part of the Island to photograph these 20 foot waves.

Waves
A twenty-foot wave breaks well off the coastline

BreakingWaves
Karen captures a gigantic wave breaking on the rocks below

Beach
Continuing southwest, we came to Mahukona Beach Park

JimWaterEdge
It was here that we finally touched the 'warm' Pacific Ocean waters

Flowers
We stopped at the Samuel M. Spencer Beach Park, just south of Kawaihae

KonaTemple
We stopped at the LDS Temple in Kailua Kona

Turkey
Just south of Kealakekua on the Mamalahoa Highway (H-11), we had to stop as
a 'Tom' turkey and his harem of 8 hens crossed the road

Donkey
As we approached South Point, we came across this donkey in a fenced area

Horses
A series of new wind turbines at South Point.  There are numerous others in the
same area, but are not working because of broken blades and missing pieces.

Rainbow
Karen's camera caught a nice rainbow late in the afternoon at South Point.  In
the background are the older wind turbines

Waves
Waves breaking at South Point

Waves
Large wave at South Point
\
MoreWaves
Another 12-15 foot wave at South Point

Sunset
Late afternoon at South Point


December 26, 2010

Attended Church, then photographed the waves near Hilo

MaunaKea
 Looking across the Hilo harbor from our hotel,  to the Mauna Kea Observatory,
28 miles to the west.

The following pictures were taken from Richardson Beach Park, about 3 miles
east of Hilo.  After spending many days looking for 'big' waves at both the
 north and south extremes of the Big Island, we found waves 20-25 feet high
not far from our hotel!  Standing with the cameras about 15 feet above the
normal sea, some of the following waves nearly obscured the landscape to the
northwest across the Hilo harbor some 6 miles away.


Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves

Waves



December 27, 2010

We were given a tour of the Gemini North Telescope Facility on Mauna Kea by
a staff member, Ms Joy Pollard, of their astronomy facility based in Hilo

Mauna Kea
One takes the 'saddle' road out of Hilo, best suited for four-wheel drive (we
couldn't take our rent-a-car).  Ms Pollard took one of their vehicles, and our
journey took us to the summit of the saddle road at  6500 feet elevation.

Road to Mauna Kea
Some regular trees at the 7200 foot elevation, which after passing took us to the
Visitor Information Center at 9200 feet.  We had lunch, then got a briefing on
what to expect weather-wise and altitude.

GeminiNorth
The Gemini North Telescope (a crew was working on the dome shutter).  When
we arrived, it was 28o F with 15-20 mph winds.  The altitude is 13750 feet.
The telescope mirror here is 8.1 meters in diameter

Telescope
The University of Hawaii's 2.2 meter telescope

View
NASA's Infrared Telescope Facility in the foreground (3.0 meter mirror), with
the Kohala Mountains to the northwest in the distance

Chamber
Gemini North's mirror coating vacuum chamber

DummyMirror
A 'dummy' mirror blank for balancing the telescope when the actual mirror is
taken
out for re-coating.

Telescope
The Gemini North 8.1 meter telescope

Secondary
The secondary mirror near the top of the telescope tube assembly

Karen
Karen at the telescope base

Jim
The author at the base of the telescope

TelescopeBase
The instrument array at the base of the telescope

CableTrough
Part of the numerous cables routed to the telescope itself from the floor and
control room

MirrorCover
The mirror cover (closed)

Dome
The dome structure for venting air currents (closed in the day)

InsideDome
The back side of the dome shutter

ControlRoom
The control room inside the building.  There is also a similar control room at the
base headquarters in Hilo, for those who prefer to operate from sea level.  This
is becoming a very normal operation at many astronomy facilities in the world.

MountainCraters
Small volcano craters near the summit of the mountain

MountainTop
The Subaru (Japan) Telescope (8.3 meter mirror) to the left, the twin domes
of the W. M. Keck Observatory (center), each with 10 meter diameter mirrors,
and the NASA Infrared Telescope to the right.  Each of the Keck mirrors are

composed of 36 individual hexagonal segments, rather than a single piece of glass.


GeminiBuilding
Gemini North in the foreground, with the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in the
background (left).  The latter has a 3.6 meter mirror

KeckDomes
The twin W. M. Keck Telescope domes

GeminiNorth
Gemini North as seen from the northwest

Mountain
Gemini North (left), the University of Hawaii telescope (center), and the United
Kingdom Infrared Telescope (3.8 meter mirror) to the right

CalTechDome
The Caltech Submillimeter Telescope (10.4 meter radio dish, not glass) seen
here with the dome closed

Part 2




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