Volcano

I am in Hawaii. On Maui. Yesterday I was on the Big Island of Hawaii and went to visit Kilauea, the volcano, which I had wanted to see since I was eight years old. The whole Volcanoes National Park there is wonderful: worth seeing. Hiked the Kilauea Iki Crater. At the Observatory overlooking the Halema'uma'u Crater there is a description of the lake of lava there in 1866 by Mark Twain (from "Roughing It"). I had forgotten about that. I was in turn imagining Twain seeing the molten lava. It's all cool now.
Our hike inside the other crater was fun -- lots of steam vents out of which hiss hot steam (naturally). Very hot and sulphury.
At sunset we drove down a road called Chain of Craters road and stopped at the end of the road where a 2003 lava flow made it impassible. Then we walked along bumpy (but cool) lava, ignoring all of the Danger! signs, until we got to a viewing point where tourists were clustered. There, as the sun drifted lower, we could see dim red lights emerging on the hillside. Lava! Real live hot red lava! Very exciting. But from a distance. Closer to us, where the tube of lava met the ocean, wonderful billows of steam and red clouds puffed up. Wished we could hear it. Very exciting.