We took at trip up to the very top of the world, actually to the top of Mauna Kea, which felt like the top of the world. It's the highest we've ever been. Mauna Kea measures almost 14K feet about sea level but extends about 16K feet below the ocean to the base of the ocean floor. Mauna Kea, meaning White Mountain, gets snow about 2 weeks out of the year. It wasn't snow-capped when we were there, but very windy and chilly.
Scientists recognize this spot as possibly the best place in the world to observe stars and have placed many of the world's finest telescopes here, like the Keck I, Keck II, and Gemini. There's also a VLBA (Very Long Baseline Array) radio telescope here, which acts in sync with 9 other antennas across the US to simultaneously capture data to study celestial objects.
We slowly ascended to the top, stopped along the way several times to acclimate to the thinner air. We stayed at the top for about 30 minutes to watch the sun set on the top of the world (and sadly our last sunset on the ocean of Hawaii as we departed for the the eastern side of the island the next day). It felt like I had drank a whole bottle of wine but was soon feeling normal once we came back down a little. We hung out for a few hours stargazing and drinking hot cocoa. The stars were amazing! We were able to see a few constellations from the southern hemisphere, like the Southern Cross, that we aren't able to see at home. And check out our shot of the Milky Way!
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