The Volcano!

Nancy and I went to Kilauea, to Volcanoes National Park, to see the volcano.  The park service people, in their own tofu-academic terminology, kept referring to the the volcano as an "area of active volcanism," a phrase that had me looking for Leonard Nimoy at every turn.

We didn't get to see any red hot magma or eruptions or anything.  Mostly there was a lot of cooled lava and vents of sulfur and steam.  Still, it was pretty amazing to stand there and look at it.

Nancy at T.A. Jaggar Museum
The Thomas A. Jaggar Museum is also a functioning research station for the study of, ta-dah, volcanoes.   Mr. Jaggar decided that observing volcanoes would be a good way to learn about them and possibly predict eruptions.  Seems like a smart guy, though if you see the picture of him in the museum in his wacky boat-car thing, you might think twice.

The eruption risk chart.
This shows where on the big island eruptions are likely, with a 9 being pretty safe to a 1 indicating where, if we were talking about tornadoes, the trailer parks would be located. Plan your vacation accordingly.

Halemau'ma'u Crater
Taken from the Jaggar Museum, this is the main crater, which is actually inside another huge crater that you only get a hint of from the pictures.  The Japanese tourists, who were swarming the place, were actually staying at the Outrigger at the same time we were there.

Across the Crater
In the "main crater" picture you can see some tour buses (and more Japanese) across the crater.  Well this is taken from that point, looking back at the Jaggar Museum, noted with an arrow that magically appeared in the sky.

Volcano Offerings
Some people left offerings to the goddess of the volcano Pele.  (Not to be confused with that soccer guy from Brazil.)  The park service seemed enamored with her as well, and her name came up as often as the phrase "active volcanism."  I think the offering of an empty fifth of Gibley's vodka pretty much guarantees that some town is going down soon in an eruption.

Steaming Crater
If steam is your thing, then this is your place.  It would be a great set for a movie scene that needed a desolate background.  I kept looking for the Bridge of Death or Max von Sydow and the Grim Reaper playing chess somewhere.

Steaming Plains
As if the crater wasn't seething with enough steam and sulfur, the flats around the crater added in their own portion. 

Crater Floor
Shiny black cooled lava and more steam!

Crater Side
A look across the crater, over the offerings, at a steaming, sulfur discolored area of the crater.

Other Side of Crater
More sulfur, less steam venting.

Nancy at the Volcano
Since Nancy fell under item 3 on the warning sign at the top of the page, she stayed in the car while I went out and played in the volcanic fumes.  There she is in the red convertible Camaro, with the top up because it was also raining in addition to the fumes.