Awestruck

Today I found myself on the northwest side of the island at Kaneohe Bay where I had to turn in all the field gear I took to Korea. After that was done I had nothing else on the schedule for the day so I abandoned the Interstate (Yes, they have Interstate Highways in Hawai'i. Don't ask.) and took a lesser road that circles back around past Haunama Bay and Diamond Head. The geography here is incredible. Actually, 'incredible' doesn't do it justice. I was trying to think of what the mountains look like. You know the sharp, serrated ridgelines that you get from eroding volcanic rock? First thing I came up with was that they looked like the lower jawbone of a Tyrannasaur fossil. But that wasn't quite right so I switched to them looking like the sides of a pastry chef's hat. But with, like, trees and bushes and stuff.

Still don't think I have it quite right but I'm working on it. The other thing I noticed was the water. The ocean is an unbelievable deep blue. We're not talking Crayola crayon blue, we're talking the kind of blue that the sky in Montana wishes it could be. And close in near the shore the water is a sparkling sea green. Head up into the hills and look down on the breaking surf, and you can watch the two colors embrace and melt into turquoise.

Postcards just can't do the trick, you gotta see it to believe it.