17 February 2014

to volcanos...

the southernmost bakery in the us…  

the black sand beach.

steam vents at the volcano

more of the steam coming up from kilauea volcano

the glow at dusk.

more of the glow.

our cute little "general store" at the camp.

back at the southernmost tip… when we were the southernmost people!

driving up the eastern side.

black sand beach… and the turtle!

it looked like coffee grounds.  but didn't stain my toes!

and it was COLD!

another turtle!

driving up to the steam vents.  just left over pockets where the ground opens up to let steam out...

they were on both sides of the road...

looking down in to one!

other side of the road.

looking out to kilauea

more steam and views.

at kilauea…

we spent 4 or 5 hours total on our drive from the kohala coast to volcanoes.  it was beautiful.  and stunning to drive up and see the steam just coming up out of the ground.  (i stayed awake all night with nightmares the first night there!!!)  and then to see the glow from the lava lake- the level was to low to see actual lava, but we could see the glow!  even from our cabin at night…  it was so eerie and cool.  

david and i kept talking about the hubris of man, thinking we can build all this on top of a volcano!  and get this close.  it was daunting to see all the devastation… more to come on those pics!

forgot to mention when we landed in kona- it was the coolest, quaintest, most unique airport i have ever been to.  you land over these lava fields that have a few paved runways.  there is nothing around as far as the eye can see except for a few buildings with bathrooms and a little store for the airport.  you get off the plane and walk across the runway to baggage claim.  you never really go inside, except for the bathroom!  

across the street are the rental car agencies.  and then you drive out of the "airport complex" and there is nothing but the lava fields.  no electrical lines.  no buildings.  just lava fields.  for about 20 miles.  and then you get to the hotel area.  it was such a different feeling than anywhere else we had been!  and so much of the drive to volcanoes from the south point was like that.  there was nothing there but lava.  and ocean.  and little patches where grass had started to grow back up through the lava.

1 comment:

Andrew said...

Great stuff! We talked a bunch about the hubris of man as well. In Hilo we watched this documentary at one of the museums about Kalapana, the whole village that got swallowed up in the '90s. Crazy.

And oh! We camped on the black sand beach near those turtles! Fun times.