Governor's Mansion Party

So your NOAA trip is over, now what do you do? Well you go to the Governor's mansion for a party of course. The Governor was very excited about his excursion to Rose Atoll. So to celebrate he threw a party for the Hi'ialakai crew and scientists. Turns out the entire ASG cabinet came too, all of the various directors and their families as well as many of the members of CRAG (the governor's Coral Reef Advisory Group), plus the requisite police security. It was a lot of fun. The last time we went to the Governor's mansion it was for a more quiet dinner around the table. This time it was a big outdoor gala complete with multiple umus. I think one of the reasons I like the Governor so much is that even though he is the head of the country he is quite down to earth. He helped with the umus and started passing out food to people to try.That and he is actually really funny. After we finished dinner he was recounting stories about our trip and everyone was very entertained.The only thing that really struck me as odd was that there was a shuttle bus from the bottom of the hill up to the mansion. A distance of about 100 yards. Melanie and I had started walking up and were quickly ushered into the awaiting van to go up the hill. Weird. Same thing on the way back downhill. The shuttle van drove us down the hill to our car. It was on one hand rather extravagant and made you feel quite important, while at the same time being rather silly. Always something new at the Governor's house.

Finally, did you all know that Melanie is famous? Yup she is currently on the National Park website. Go to http://www.nps.gov/npsa. Scroll down to the "things to do section". That's Melanie diving with the clownfish!