Week 11: 3/12-3/18

Sunday: OH WHAT A DAY…

Today was a truly amazing day. Elaine, Julia, Vicky, Hannah and I still had the car for the rest of the day, and decided to spend the day driving around the island and explore. We left UHH around 7:30 am and stopped at Cruising Coffee, which is a really good coffee drive through, for breakfast before the adventure began. I had macadamia nut iced coffee and a bacon, egg and cheese sandwich on an asiago bagel. It was yummy! Then we drove up the Hāmākua coast and stopped by Akaka Falls. It was about a quarter of a mile round trip hike which was really nice. When we were done taking pictures, we walked back and got in our car and drove some more. We decided to go see Poūlū Valley in the north. The drive put an extra hour on to our day but it was absolutely incredible. The drive alone made it amazing! You could see the whole island, (well not really there are two huge mountains in the middle but you know what I mean). We decided not to do the hike but went to the observation point and got to see the valley! It was so pretty. The pictures I took do not do it justice. I am so excited to go back and do the hike in a few weeks! When we were done at the lookout, we drove along the coast until we reached 69 Beach and Hapuna Beach. We relaxed and spent about 2 hours swimming, and then hopped over Kona to get gas and food! Then we continued the driving along the coast to the south side of the island and went to South Point. Now ya’ll this is where the adventure really begins. When we got to South Point, Hannah, Julie and Vicky wanted to jump, don’t worry everyone I didn’t jump again. My butt still hurts from the first time so I decided to just watch and be photographer. Vicky jumped in right away, then Hannah and Julia. Hannah and Vicky jumped twice and took the ladder up the first time and then they joined Julia in the water and tried to get out of the water via the cliffs. This was the way I went to get out the first time but it didn’t really work for the three of them. The three of them had a hard time getting up the rocks and were pulled back out by the waves. When we called down to see if they were okay they responded yes and started swimming to the ladder. While they were getting out, I continued to talk to these two couples from Oregon and they were telling me about all sorts of places I should visit while I am there for my internship this summer. When the girls got up I thought they were okay, but little did I know when they got out of the water they were all cut up. My back was turned and the first thing I hear Elaine scream is that they are bleeding. I asked the couples if they had a first aid kit, and they ran to get it. Thank goodness, they were there; they saved the day and took care of the girls. Julia had hit her head, Hannah’s feet and legs where cut everywhere. It was a mess. Somehow out of all of the cuts, Vicky walked clean perfectly fine. When we got them, all bandaged up, we headed back in the car and finished our journey home. When we got back to campus, we unloaded the car, took Hannah, Julia, and Vicky upstairs. Elaine and I headed to the Airport to drop off the car and waited for Stefanie and Joe to come pick us up and take us to Walmart to get some medical supplies. When we got back, Elaine bandaged the girls up and then I went back to my room to go to sleep. It was an amazing day, but did take a scary turn for a little while.

Monday: Homework and packing

I didn’t do a lot today. I went to my classes. We reviewed for our exam coming up later in the week, don’t worry I am making it up next week when I get back from Oregon, and then we talked about pond management some more. I also finished some homework. Other than that today was a very low key day. I grabbed dinner with some friends and then went to bed.

Tuesday: Off I go…..

I left this morning around 8:30 am so I could catch my first flight to Honolulu. My flight left around 10 AM. I landed in Honolulu around 10:50 and then had to leave the airport to catch a shuttle to the opposite side of the airport where all of the planes going to the mainland are located. Once I got into the airport I met a couple on my flight and we ate lunch together. We talked about their time in Hawaii and how they were visiting a friend from college the last 2 weeks. They gave me suggestions of things I should do when I come back to Honolulu in 2 weeks for spring break. After that I went over to my gate and sat there for 2 hours and watched How I Met Your Mother while waiting for my plane. When I got on my plane I sat in the emergency exit row which meant I had more leg room and I got a charger for my phone! Guys I had a phone charger on my flight!! That was soo cool! I even was able to text people from my flight because I had free wifi that Alaska gives to all of their passengers so they can watch movies online. If you get a chance I would fly Alaska! Alaska is amazing! I had no problems and the flight was super smooth and the flight attendants were super sweet! I ended up watching Me Before You, Midnight in Paris and watched some more How I met your mother on Netflix. I also watched the sunset on the plane. The flight was about 6.5-7 hours long. I got into San Jose around 11:30 am and got off the plane around 12 am. (Read more on Wednesday to hear the rest of my journey to Oregon J)

Wednesday: Made it

When I got off the plane I sat down at one of the gates. The place was deserted except for the people getting off my flight. All but 5 of us left the airport. I met two women from New Jersey who were headed home after spending 2 weeks in Honolulu. The three of us walked around the airport for about 40 minutes. While we were walking around I found a girl from Honolulu Hawaii, her name was Nita, who was on her way back to Honolulu from a trip to Salt Lake City. She joined us and we continued to look for a place to sleep. We walked all the way around the airport and then decided to walk back to where we came from. We slept on some comfy chairs. We pulled a couple chairs together so we could make some make shift beds. Nita and I couldn’t sleep so we decided to run around the airport. It was a lot of fun!!! I have never gotten to do that before. We also spent the next hour talking and getting to know each other. Around 2 am the two of us were finally exhausted and tried to sleep for a little while. I got about an hour nap in and the rest of the time I just lay there reading and trying to rest. Around 6 am I left the group to go board my flight to Portland Oregon. It was about a 2-hour flight. I watched the sunrise over California along the way and then dozed off for a little while. I landed in Portland around 8 am and it was cold and rainy. I had to walk into the airport from the outside. The cold rain felt soo good!! It was a nice change from 85 and sunny. I really liked being able to wear winter clothes! It was fun to do so for a couple of days. When I got into the airport. I got breakfast, I ate a bacon egg and cheese bagel and a large hot coffee and a snack for later in the day. I had a 3-hour layover before I got on my last plane. I called my parents to let them know where I was and then worked on writing some of my blog. I got on my last of 4 flights to get to Charleston Oregon. This flight was a propeller plane. It has been years since I had been on one, it was a neat experience. I did get a little bit of a headache because of the noise but it wasn’t bad. I landed in Coos Bay around 1 pm and called a taxi to come pick me up. Then the taxi driver took me to my destination. It was a cold and rainy day in Charleston which was fine with me. I was excited for the cold, it meant I got to wear my new Hilo Sweatshirt. I met Jamie and she signed me in to stay at the dorm and I was staying in an invert dorm. They are super nice and I am excited to stay here this summer. It looks like a little town you would find in a story book.

When I was all settled in, I met with Bree who is one of my mentors on the project and she gave me a tour around the Oregon Biology Institute and the labs I will be using. Along with that she gave me a tour around Charleston and showed me some of South Soles Estuary Reserve. This is where I will be doing some of my research project this summer. After that she had a meeting for a little while so I went and walked around. I walked ten minutes to the beach and then walked back. When she was done with her meeting I went and had dinner with some of her friends and her husband. I had a some really good homemade macaroni and cheese made with Tilamock cheese, which is a cheese company up in northern Oregon. I actually visited the place with my grandparents a few years ago which was a lot of fun! It was so warm on my belly. Then Bree showed me around more of the town and then took me back to the dorms. When I got there, I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. It had been a long but fun day and that was just the beginning for this trip.

Thursday: Blue Carbon Workshop

Today was a lot of fun. I started the day off at 8 AM. I met Bree outside of my dorm and she showed me to the room where the Blue Carbon Workshop is being held. During this workshop, I learned all about the project I will be working on this summer and the different groups of people who will be working on the project as well. I also got to meet my other mentor Boone and one of his graduate students, they were the ones running the workshop. Everyone in the group drove down the street to get to the wetland area we would be practicing and learning the procedure. We spent about 3 hours out in the field and all of us got to practice using the tools and learning the procedure. It was really neat. I learned a lot that I didn’t know about before. Boone is an expert at all things dirt. A lot of the professors and researchers were worried about not being able to use the corer in the really wet and sandy areas, but when Boone did it he was able to get it up without compaction. It was incredible to watch! When I tried it, it compacted but with time I should be able to do it without that happening. After the workshop, I stopped by a really good deli in Charleston and got chicken and wild rice soup and half a turkey sandwich, and I took it back and ate at a picnic table near my dorm. When I was done with lunch, Bree showed me around more of the reserve and showed me some of the places I would be doing field work during the summer. After that she took me on a drive up the coast to see the Oregon coastline, to show me some good camping spots and to show me some good places to go on hikes while I am here. We went on one of the hikes so I could see more of the coast line and my favorite part was that it was muddy! My shoes were covered in mud! I loved it! When that was done, she dropped me back off at the dorm so I could get changed and ready for the social tonight for the conference that was happening here this weekend. She picked me up and drove us into downtown Coos Bay. We got there early to see if the lady running the night needed help and she was like I have it under control you all go walk around and have some good mother daughter time. Me and Bree just laughed. She also thought that I was 15 years old…I mean I do have a young face but I am almost 21 years old, at least give me 17….but anyway Bree and I walked downtown and she showed me some good places to eat and some stores that I could go to and then we took a walk along the pier. It was fun. We started to get cold so we decided to walk back and get some food. When we came back, some of the students were there, and I went and talked to them. One girl and I looked at each other for a few minutes. I recognized her but I couldn’t place who she was until she started talking and then I was like oh Hilary you are a Hollings scholar and she was like oh yea that’s where I know you from. It was great seeing her. We talked for a while and I got to meet some of her friends. When the night was, over Bree took me back to the dorms and as soon as my head hit the pillow again, I was out. I think the combination of traveling a lot, the time difference and the busy 3 days I have had has worn me out.

Friday: Conference and more planes

I had the chance to attend my first conference today. It was a smaller one but a lot of fun! I woke up around 7 am to help Bree set up for the conference. I had all of my stuff packed in her car and ready to go for when she had to drop me off at the airport. We got to the community college where the conference was happening and I helped set up the posters. When we were done setting up we had free breakfast and the conference started. I sat through 10 fast talk presentations for the posters which allowed us to hear a little bit about each poster before we went to look at them. Then we spent about an hour looking at the posters and then went into the first set of 5 minute presentations. After the 6 presentations were done we separated into groups and talked about some of the presentations. When that was done, we broke for lunch and I said goodbye to some of the students and Bree dropped me off at the airport. I got on my first plane from Coos Bay around 1:30 pm and made it to Portland by 2:30 pm where I had a 2-hour layover and waited for my flight to Seattle. In Seattle, I had another 2-hour layover before my 7 hour flight to Honolulu. I got to Honolulu at 11:30 pm Hawaii Time so it was 2:30 am Pacific Coast. I slept on the plane to Honolulu so I could stay awake in the Honolulu airport. I watched some movies and dozed off a little bit at the airport until 4 AM when I left the mainland terminal and walked over to the interisland terminal to go back through security to make my 5 AM flight to Hilo.

Saturday: I’M HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally made it back home today! After 27 hours and a night in the Honolulu airport, I can say I am back where I am supposed to be. Allison picked me up early from the airport and as soon as I got back to my room I crashed and slept from 7 am to 11 am. Then I went and grabbed brunch and took it back to my room where I ate and then feel asleep again from 1 to 6 pm. When I woke up I went to get dinner with my friends and then came back to my room showered and was asleep by 8:30 pm. Today I didn’t do a lot as you can see. I had to catch up on some sleep I had been missing out on the last couple of days!

#AkakaFalls #CruisingCoffee #DrivearoundtheIsland #Hapuna #PouluValley #SouthPoint #Oregon