Invisible Cows

One evening, my dad took Loran and me up Mauna Kea. We figured our dark averse children would not appreciate the views and Grandma was more than happy to stay with them and watch Cinderella. Before we left, we gathered warm clothes and blankets. We’d be leaving the tropics near sea level and driving an hour up a mountain to 9,200 feet to the Mauna Kea Visitor Information Station where it would be near freezing. We wouldn’t be going up to the observatories, partially because we wouldn’t have anything to do once there, plus they are at 14,000 feet so knowing me, I’d probably pass out. Since there is a definite lack of oxygen up there, our vision would actually be less acute, so viewing the starts from the visitor center is the better bet.

We took our rental car up the “hill” so as to spare my dad’s vehicle a trip. When we left, it was overcast, as we drove up, we encountered rain, then fog, very low visibility, zero lights and suddenly we got above the cloud line and the sky just opened up.

Even from the car, the stars were magnificent. The engine continued to work hard getting us up the hill and we eventually made it to the visitor center. It took a little bit for our eyes to adjust to such dark skies and lack of light. There were telescopes out all over where guides were telling people what they were looking at. The stars were so numerous, and so bright, we couldn’t even find common constellations easily. I am still pretty certain I didn’t see the Big Dipper despite really looking for it. We bopped from telescope to telescope, wrapped in fleece blankets.

Eventually, we called it a night and stumbled in the dark towards the car. When Loran hit the unlock button on the key fob, the rear lights blinked…like any car would. Our pupils were so open the three of us were nearly blinded by this simple occurrence. The car’s interior lights were like small little torture devices. Once our eyes adjusted to the glaring glow of the dashboard, we put our car into first gear and chugged our way down the mountain.

When we were at the visitor center, I took only one photo – Beware of Invisible Cows. It was reminiscent of Montana, driving through open grazing land. However, we usually came across those cows in the road in the daylight, sometimes in the foggy daylight, but I can’t imagine suddenly having a brown bovine standing in the road in front of you as you navigate curving roads in the rain/fog/dark. Luckily, we encountered none…but knowing they were out there was creepy enough!

Check out the actual visitor center’s website for pictures!