I totally forgot to write about when we went Star Gazing on Mauna Kea!
It did not go as planned.
The Visitor Center that you can reach by vehicle (And with kids and being pregnant – you can’t go any higher than we went), was packed by the time we got there – we got arrived plenty early too. We were able to park on the side of the road, but it was pretty busy up there! It was one of their stargazing program nights.
We parked and opened the van doors and we were instantly freezing. It was probably like 50ish degrees, which is not unusual for winter where we live, but when you have been in 80-degree weather all week, it is freezing, not to mention we needed more coats (we had our light coats, but it apparently was not enough). As soon as we opened the back van door and started to get the toddler out, he pointed to the van and wanted to get back in! He did NOT like it!
We went to the visitor’s center. It was packed. There was a line to get in. We waited in line. There was not much to see. We got some hot chocolate and left. We went back to the car and warmed up. The wind made it soooo much COLDER!
Once we warmed up, it was about time for them to start with the telescopes. At this point, most of the kids did not want to leave the warm van again. So my husband took the 2 kids that wanted to go try the telescopes.
Well, they didn’t last long. The lines to look through the telescopes were very long and they were not moving – so they gave up. It was dark by this time, so we just looked at the sky and called it good! HA! It was a beautiful clear night, so we were able to see the moon and the stars really well!
It did not go as I thought it would, but hey, at least we can say we’ve been star gazing (and froze our butts off) on the tallest mountain in the world (if you count under the sea!).
Not sure I would recommend others to go. It was too busy and cold. I wouldn’t do it again. If you want to go to say you have, then go – otherwise, I’d skip it.
On the way back to the resort, one kid was puking from the elevation change and another was crying about his ears hurting…. Yeah, not a successful part of the trip! At least the rest of the trip was AMAZING!
