Volcano

Jan 4th. Spent the day driving from the Kona side of the island to Hilo, where we boarded a helicopter to see the Volcano's from the air. Nate was hugely disappointed as we only saw small glimpses of lava, that he may have missed entirely. He wanted to see huge lava explosions and eruptions. Afterwords we headed over to Volcano's National Park, something we truly enjoyed. Then we made the long drive back to Kona.
Our time on the Big Island has been fun, if not chaotic. I had intended to take time off, but escalations at work have forced me to work and I'm starting my days at 3am, and done by 11am to spend the rest of the day with the family.
This island is a lot different than the others,with many unique things. The Kona side, where we're staying is not like a typical tropical island. It only gets 4 inches of rain per year. Very dry, lot's of old lava flows and sparse trees and plants. One of the interesting sites is where all the people have spelled out things on the lava rock, with these white colored rocks. The Hilo side of the island, is hippy town, a lot like Berkeley. Rainfall there is 11 FEET per year. Wettest city in the US. Very green, tropical plants but also lot's of lava damage.
Lava flow into the sea as seen from helicopter.
Lava flow from helicopter. Note the small areas that were saved. I believe somewhere we got a picture of 1 house that was spared, but can now only be gotten to by helicopter. It's a vacation rental for those that like to be isolated.
One of two areas we saw lava.
While you still have to zoom in these photos, note that they were taken from a helicopter with my new 18-200MM lens. So these appear even closer than what we saw. It's part of the reason Nate was so disappointed.

One of the many waterfalls we saw while in the air.
This is an old lava lake that took over 36 years to cool. Was quite a site in the 70's when it was a pool of lava, quite the tourist attraction. Steam vents rising from the floor make it very dangerous to walk on.
Nate with one of his silly faces at the Jaggar museum in the National Park.
Nate and I walking around. It was 62 degrees out, cold for Hawaii. We were up some in elevation, but all the natural steam venting going on provided pockets of warm moist air.


One of the helicopter views that show the continual venting of VOG, Volcanic Osomething Gas.
Nate and I exploring a lava tube. The neat thing here is you can walk down it about 200 yards and see how the lava travels underground towards the sea. This section was lighted, but at the far end of it, the tube extends another 330 meters, but you need a flashlight to walk up it. We didn't have one and it was getting late so we only walked through the lighted portion of the tube. Gives a whole new meaning to subway.

Kind of hard to see in this photo, but the dark areas is old lava flow, and the white rocks have been placed their by people to spell out things, usually someone's name or declaration of love. Will try and get a better example before we leave.

Aloha.