Volcano

Kilauea, the Big Island of Hawaii's active volcano (familiarly known as "Volcano" by the locals), has been very busy for quite a few years now.  When my parents first bought property there, maybe 25-30 years ago, it was labeled an active volcano, but its actions were small.  The first time I ever visited Volcano we walked in the caldera (just a short step inside).  Other than some active steam vents (one even burned my ankle) and some orange lava visible underneath the already hardened lava rock on our walk towards the ocean, there wasn't much going on that was visible.  The one thing that was interesting to my on that first visit was the size of it.  I'd never seen a volcano before, so what I had imagined was that upside-down triangle shape that spewed a plume of smoke with lava spilling down the sides.  This volcano is enormous.  Because it's so massive you can't even tell it's a mountain unless you are viewing it from far away to actually see the slope of it.  The drive around it and "up" to it is summit takes quite awhile.
After that first trip, Volcano started to get more active.  Since my mom has lived there full time (about 12 years now) it has been very active.  She has taken several photography trips by car, boat, and helicopter to see it.  And pretty much every time I go visit her, we make a day trip to see it.  Usually, "it's been very busy" with the promise of a lot to see.  And every time I have gone it's not doing a darn thing.  I can't tell you how many miles we've hiked out in the intense heat, over uneven and jagged lava rock, in the dark (at least on the way out) to see a whole lot of NOTHING.  The things I have seen haven't been all that exciting, but they are quite interesting.  The crater that we walked in on our first trip has since fallen and is pretty much full of lava most of the time.  Visitors can no longer get anywhere near it, and it is now a viewing attraction at the visitor's center.  Also, because of the slow, but fairly constant flow of lava the road we drove in on has gotten remarkably shorter while the hike in has gotten longer.  The lava has taken out roads, street signs, structures and now those areas are covered in igneous rock.  Even though all those trips have been a bit disappointing to not see what we can see in videos or pictures, it is still incredible that we've witnessed the earth literally changing in a matter of years

While I have vowed to never go back to that volcano AGAIN to see nothing, this past week has brought about some significant activity.  After a collapse inside over the New Year, the lava is now coming out like a faucet - just pouring out.  They call it a "fire hose".  If that isn't fascinating enough, it is also creating little explosions when it hits the ocean.

Now, that would be something to see!