Sunday, August 19th - Free Time
Yesterday was our long-awaited vacation from our hectic production schedule. We got to sleep in and travel down the mountain, the first time since we visited I’miloa Science Center last Monday. We left Hale Pohaku around 11am,our destination, the city of Waimea. In Waimea, we took a quick pit stop at the WM Keck Observatory headquarters. We attempted to get some footage of the building and the sign as well as the headquarters’ view of the summit. After leaving the Keck headquarters, we stopped by the local grocery mart and, of course, Starbucks where we got food for dinner and our caffeine fix.
We left Waimea, traveling southwest towards Kona to meet up with Laura and Kyle Kinoshita. Laura is the Public Information Officer at Keck Observatory and Kyle is the Observatory’s chief mechanical engineer. We met up with the couple and their young son, Ethan, at their home at Mauna Lani about 20 miles north of Kona. We were pampered to the max at the Kinoshita home. Bruce was given the opportunity to play a round of golf with Kyle at the resort’s course and Krista and Steve were allowed to take a few hours to go down to the beach and swim and snorkel. The evening was topped off by a wonderful meal prepared by Laura that was served on the house’s patio, facing out to the golf course. It was a relaxing and refreshing afternoon! Now it’s back to work!