of Hawai'i and the word "skiing", "water skiing" probably comes to mind but downhill skiing?, snowboarding?, cross country skiing? We'd think not. But we'd be wrong. Betty's friend Carol just joined us after dinner and told us about her day skiing on Mauna Kea 
this weekend. We were fascinated. Skiing in Hawai'i! Amazing. We knew the top of Mauna Kea at 14,000 feet, the site of eight of the world's best large celestial telescope observatories, is snow covered most of the winter. But we thought that's all; there are no lifts or facilities so how do they get back up? They use pickup trucks as the mode of transportation. A group of people drive up; one buddy dr
ives the truck back down and waits for the group and up you go again. Many of the local surfers snowboard in the morning then head down to the shore and finish the day riding waves on the beach. WOW! Carol said there was a lo
t of snow and it was like Spring skiing, a bit slushy by later in the day. And here's the really interesting part. Ski boots explode up there! Well, expand. I guess the air-filled plastic foam liners that are created at sea level expand, like balloons, in the thinner air at the 14,000 foot altitude and either the boots split apart or painfully squeeze your feet. Skiing in Hawai'i, who'd a' thunk it?[if you want to send me an e-mail, click here ]
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