Volcano Visit

Yesterday was National Park Day, so we headed up to Volcanoes National Park for a "photo shoot" for our daughter.  Her modeling portfolio is quite old, so it was worth a try in spite of our rather sad camera - plus it was something to do.  Here are some pictures from our visit:

This is a view of the current eruption in Halemaumau Crater.  All you can see from the back of Volcano House is the plume. 

My youngest getting into the "Photo Shoot" spirit. 

A picture of my son with the eruption in the back ground.  

We drove down the Chain of Craters road for different backgrounds.  Here you can see pahoehoe lava flow in the foreground and an old flow in the background which reached the ocean.  

A close-up of pahoehoe lava.  See how it looks like ripples?  

My daughter - one of our "photo shoot" shots.  

Lava fields from the car.  It looks a lot shinier in the sun than my camera catches. 


























As you can see, the Volcano Park has a lot of varied terrain.  We don't take advantage of it as much as we should.   We've done all the hikes that we are basically capable of and interested in (there are some gnarly survival hikes that I think I would have to be 20 years younger and kidless to be interested in) - well, that's my husband's rationale.  I like doing the same walk over and over, because it gives me a constant to measure my improvement on, but the fact that we have to drive there and pay the $25 a year to have the pass and the sometimes crowded conditions on the shorter more accessible trails is a deterrent to my husband.  My favorite hike is a four mile hike into Kilauea Iki Crater.  You descend a rather steep train to the bottom of a smaller crater and walk along the length of it to climb back up at the other end.  One trail end starts at the Lava Tube, which is a lot of fun.  I always feel like I will see a dinosaur any time when I am in the crater - you feel like you've stepped back in time.