mauna kea

On Wednesday, my uncle Stanley drove over from his home in Pa`auilo to pick us up and take us to Mauna Kea. 

From the Kohala Coast, it took about an hour and a half to get to the visitor's center at Mauna Kea and from there it was another half an hour or so of driving up vertiginous, unpaved roads to the summit of the mountain. As we neared the top, the clutch on my uncle's car gave out, so we all piled out of the car to wander around and take pictures. The wind was strong enough to pick up pieces of gravel and fling them through the air. My father's hat was blown off his head and over the side of a cliff- my brother scrambled down the side to retrieve it. The car wheezed back to life and we continued on to take a look at the Keck observatories, looking down on the blanket of clouds below us.

It was cold and strangely otherworldly on top of the mountain. The observatories and auxiliary buildings gave the bare landscape a sci-fi feel. From the summit we could see to Maui. I was glad to have a fleecy jacket on. 

family holiday, hawaii

Greetings from Hawaii.

I'm here on vacation with my family. We're four days in and settling into what is, to my mind, a very nice rhythm. 

On our first full day on the island, we took a trip out to see Volcano National Park. We couldn't see the lava flows but we're able to hike around the sides of the craters and through the lava tubes. It was humid and rainy but we had the park almost entirely to ourselves (the benefits of visiting Hawaii in the off season) and marveled at the strange landscape. The craters were deep and barren- it looked as though some tremendous bomb had been touched off- and it was impressive to see the smoke rising out of the vents in the distance.

We ended up at the Volcano House, which had a magnificent view of the Halema`uma`u Crater. We lunched overlooking the wild landscape and made plans for the next leg of our trip, which involved driving across the island to Hapuna. 

summer + a recipe for slow roasted tomatoes

I started a summer job in June and now I'm heading into my last week this Monday. It's gone by quickly and I'm having a hard time believing I'll be back in school next month. In the meanwhile, I'm really hoping to enjoy some of the pleasures of summer- glasses of rosé, days on the beach (Hawaii next week!), barbecuing, white sundresses, and slow roasted tomatoes. 

Slow roasted tomatoes with herbs are pure summer- fragrant and jewel-colored, they're wonderful in everything from salads to pasta and, stored in a jar and covered with olive oil, will last for around a month. 

Happy summer.

Recipe:

cherry tomatoes

bunch of thyme

olive oil

salt & pepper

Set oven to 225F. Cut tomatoes in half and arrange cut side up on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with olive oil then sprinkle approximately 2 teaspoons of thyme and a big pinch of Maldon sea salt or some other flaky salt. Toss in a few cloves of unpeeled garlic. Bake for 2-3 hours or until tomatoes are shriveled but retain some moisture. Eat immediately or store covered in olive oil along with the (peeled) garlic cloves for up to a month.

summer day, yosemite

Around 7pm on Friday, Daniel and I drove through the gates at Yosemite National Park. 

It was a first for me- I'd never been to Yosemite and practically squealed with excitement when we first saw El Capitan. We got in later than expected (terrible traffic going through Tracy) so on our first night, we propped ourselves up in front of our tent cabin and drank wine with our friends Monica and Jesse in the twilight until it was time for bed.

As we knew we'd only really have one full day at the park, we decided to split our Saturday: half the day spent hiking, the other half spent on the river.

We woke up around 6:45, breakfasted on peanut butter and banana sandwiches, and headed out for a half-day hike up to the falls. I had worried that the trails would be packed but since we left on the early side, there weren't many people on the trail with us on our way up.

Vernal Falls are the first falls you reach as you head up towards Half Dome. The hike becomes progressively steep and there are 700 massive granite steps cut into the mountain. I had insisted on carrying our day pack and was therefore very excited when we finally reached the top.

We stopped at the Emerald Pool to drink some water and eat slices of dried mango before moving on to Nevada Falls.

The mist over the falls was lovely and we saw rainbow after rainbow. On certain faces, the granite looked like a gray drop-cloth smattered with white paint. I found myself frustrated by the fact that it was impossible to capture the scale of the mountains and the falls with my camera. Then I thought about it and realized that was part of what was special about actually being there.

After we got back, we dropped off our things, ate a little lunch (I made us sandwiches because I refused to go to the food court in Curry Village. Pizza while camping is just wrong) and changed into swimsuits before heading down to the Merced River. The temperature was well in the 90s. We walked through fields of flowers to get to the water.

I fell asleep flat on my back on a towel on the pebbly beach. Daniel went fly fishing. In the evening, we met up with friends and went for a drink at the Ahwahnee. You know it's been a good trip when before it's even over, you're already planning your next trip back.