Today, I could have gotten out of bed an hour later than I did. Most of the excursions I'm scheduled to take occur sometime between 7:00 am and 7:30 am. Today's excursion was scheduled for 8:15 am. At least, I had the time to relax after breakfast and get things done.
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Around 8:00, I went down to the gangway and it started to drizzle. I waited a while before heading towards the queuing area for the Kaleakala Crater excursion. When the tour guide arrived, he told us that the weather at the top of Kaleakala crater is unpredictable and that we might not be able to see anything due to the clouds.
We then started our trek from sea level to 9727 feet above sea level on a road with many switchbacks. It was hard to remain seated through those switchbacks with no arm rest, and it was a miracle that I didn't get sick. Rising from sea level, we encountered a cloud bank around 6000 feet above sea level, and it got worse as we continued up to the top. At the bottom of the mountain, the temperature was in the 80's. At the top, it was in the low 30's, and I was glad that I brought my winter coat that I knew I'd need when I returned to New York. This coat almost got left in my car, in order to lessen the weight of the luggage that was going to Honolulu.
None of the pictures I took today are much worth posting, so I put an image from the Park Service at the top of this entry to provide an idea of what I was hoping to see. The image above is what I did see. Hardly worth the effort to go to the crater, isn't it? Maybe next time, assuming there is one, I'll get a good picture. Since we had time to kill before the driver's next tour from the ship, we stopped by a souvenir shop and at the local Safeway. If I had been thinking, I would have picked up another roll of clear adhesive tape. But I can't think of everything when on vacation....
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