Hawaii

There are days when I complain about my job. Soft funding really can be stressful, and the constant push to do more, do better is sometimes taxing. But beneath every moment of irritation, there is a deep and real commitment to what I do. In all honesty, I love my job. If I didn't have the work the continue to press on with, I would go stir crazy. I'm designed to keep thinking, to keep learning, to keep pushing the envelope.

Sometimes, I even have moments where my job loves me back. Like this one. This year we applied to and were accepted to the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR). Its a smallish conference with big names, big thinking and always somewhere amazing. This was our first time there, and it really was the best of all worlds. Great intellectual thinking, amazing scenery and the perfect chance to learn and refocus on what's ahead.

My research team, including my two GRAs, traveled to the big Island. I've never been to any island in Hawaii, but I had heard the least about the big island. I wondered early on if we were getting this close to paradise, to only miss it. Boy was I wrong.

We stayed at the Hapuna Beach prince Resort hotel. It was amazing! The beach is the best I've ever been to, hands down. Amazing sand, beautiful ocean waters, warm swimming. Really perfect. The big island isn't all that big too- it took us about 7 hours to drive the perimeter. We took two days to adventure when we weren't conferencing. We drove through Hilo to volcano national park and hiked there one day- a 4 mile hike down through the volcano crater. It was beautiful, stunning really.

On another night we drove into Kona, which is the biggest city on the island and went snorkeling with Manta Rays. Manta Rays we learned are super gentle and don't have barbs or stingers. They are also massive- they can get up to 12 feet across. The like light because it draws in the plankton that they eat. Diving crews figured this out and created these rafts with bright lights that shine down in the ocean. The rays come up to the rafts to feed, and if you are lucky enough, they also come right up close next to you. We saw 12 rays, and many of them came within an inch of my nose. It was amazing.

We also traveled to Punalua beach, which is the black sand beach on the side of the island with the active volcano. The sand here is like coffee grounds. Its so interesting that its totally black and the water is so warm from the black sand absorbing the suns rays. Its also famous for the sea turtles. We saw a few here and literally ran into one at the hotel beach when we were learning how to body surf.

The trip was more than we could have hoped for, and so refreshing intellectually and physically. It was great to come back to work with a fresh start and to remember how much I love my job and how lucky I am to be able to do what I do!