Earlier in the month, Pramod and I went to Volcano National Park. It was pretty cool (but obviously it didn't rate a blog entry--or I was too lazy). However, the cartoon-y idea of the top of a volcano that I had in my head was extremely inaccurate. It was more like what I picture the moon looking like inside the large crater. We're definitely glad that we went to check it out.
A week or two later, Mike took the two of us out to see the lava flow after dark. There was a new flow that was running right by the road. Because we went late enough, we were able to get as dangerously close to the lava as we wanted (the guard stays there during the day time). The lava was hot! It was so hot! Standing near it was like being way too close to a raging fire; burning our faces. It was well worth it though. We each took some sticks and tried to poke the lava. It was amazing how it looks like it's flowing and it's even red and glowing, but the outside hardens really quickly. In order to get at the lava we needed to stab the stick hard into it. It was like our experience at the glass blowing demonstration in Seattle. The lava would stay on the end of the stick and either harden as it drips down, leaving a pointy glass-like lava rock. Alternatively, if the stick was rotated, the lava would continue as a blob of hot lava which could be rounded by rotating it on the ground. It was pretty amazing and greatly exceeded my expectations.
Today was our last adventure with the lava. These days, the lava flows through a tube under ground rather than over it. The tube leads to the end of the island where is pours out into the ocean. To get to this flow, it is a very very long walk. We were walking for over an hour (one way) in the hot sun. It felt long. If we had tried to go the more direct way (driving on the road until we'd have to walk out to the ocean) someone would have stopped us from going, so we ended up walking along the coast.
There is so much steam where the hot lava hits the water that we wouldn't have been able to see anything if the wind was coming our way. Luckily, it wasn't, so we were able to see some of it pouring (like water from a faucet) out of the earth. We'll see if our pictures do it justice. It was so amazing!
Hey, my loves, Happy Thanksgiving! We are going to G&Gs in Portsmouth. Jon, Ben and Sarah are coming up on Wed. night late, going to Portsmouth, coming back to Concord and we're all going for a hike on Friday. Ben and Sarah are going to Sarah's family's for Saturday stuff and Jon, Dad and I are going to see the greater Heard family in Manchester for a Currier Gallery and lunch outing. A nice family weekend!!!
ReplyDeleteToday I went to yoga (finally after 3 months away) with Jenna! Then to lunch at the Siam Orchid! Yum! We talked about you guys, of course (among other things, including our own lives) and so we're thinking about you! Lymyosh! Amma atte