Dec 8: Lava and Petroglyphs

On Dec. 8 we headed down the Chain of Craters road.  The craters were not photographically inspirational enough to put here (they were becoming overgrown with trees and plants again, so the craters aren't really visible in the pics), but we passed some super cool lava flows on the drive, and got out several times to wander over the landscape and take photos of the patterns.  I'll be super restrained and just show you a few:

Here's a spot where a lava flow covered the road and required it to be re-routed:

Down at the ocean, a natural bridge has eroded out from the new land formed by the lava flow:

A collapsed piece of lava where there had been an air pocket:

Tree growing out of a crack:

On the drive back up the road, we stopped at a spot where there were petroglyphs:

Dec. 7: Kilauea Caldera, Sulphur Banks, and the Devastation trail

Finally, we headed for the crater rim to see the active caldera.  Lucky for us, our visit coincided with an active phase where there was actual red lava hopping around inside.  You can't get super close to it due to the fumes being poisonous, but there are viewing stations at the rim where you can get a magnified look at the lava boiling inside the crater, with sheets of rock being formed and then reabsorbed into the lava.

After this we did the sulphur banks trail, where there were lots of steam vents:

The devastation trail was next.  This was the site of an explosive volcanic event around 100 years ago, I think?  (That's the hazard of waiting to long to blog, the details get fuzzy).  It wiped out the forest and left a large barren area:

Next up, some more lava flows and some petroglyphs ...

December 6: Volcanoes National Park

I'm in the midst of planning our next trip, which reminded me that I really have to finish blogging our last trip from last December!  It's been a busy year with several moves and new jobs, so it's not just laziness that has kept me from my blogging (although it probably is the main culprit).

The top thing on my list that I wanted to see in Hawaii was volcanoes.  Seeing the dormant one in Maui got weathered out, but we had a lot more time set aside to see the active one on Big Island, and to spend time in the National Park.

We started with the Kilauea Iki trail, which traverses a side crater of the Kilauea volcano.  Here we are looking down into the crater before descending into it from the forested rim:

I forget when the most recent volcanic event had happened here, but the cracks in the lava are still steaming.  It smells of sulphur:

Hiking across the crater, you can see other parties ahead of us:

Checking the temperature of one of the cracks (hot!)

Lava hills inside the crater:

Cracks in the lava hill:

It's a really interesting landscape, with the desert-like volcanic crater juxtaposed right against the tropical rainforest that surrounds it.

Looking back on the crater (most of which is in the far distance) as we hiked back up the other end of it:

From the trail heading back we got a glimpse of the steam from the active crater of the Kilauea volcano:

The trail back followed the forested rim of the crater:

After hiking this trail, we took a drive down one of the side roads towards the southern coast, and passed through some interesting landscape:

Coming up next, the active caldera of Kilauea ...

La Machine

These photos are from July 28.  As part of the Canada 150 celebrations in Ottawa this summer, some street performance art called "La Machine" came to town from France.  Long Ma, a Dragon-Horse, and Kumo, a giant spider, are huge mechanized creatures that wandered and duelled in downtown Ottawa over the course of 4 days.  The backstory is that Kumo has stolen Long Ma's wings, and they both roam the streets of downtown, with Long Ma battling Kumo at intervals to try to get them back.  We went down on the Friday to see them encounter each other for the first time.

Ed took these first two of Kumo at rest:

Here is Long Ma at rest over lunch, the battle was scheduled for 2 pm:

This shows the machinery that operates Long Ma:

The crowd was really big, but well behaved.  This is as close as we got for the battle part, there is a spider way off in the distance waving its giant legs:

Ed took these next few with his zoom lens.  You can see Kumo's orchestra that follows behind her on raised platforms:

The dragon is not happy, and exhales some smoke to prove it:

Kumo takes off after Long Ma to start roaming the streets again:

We hate crowds and were at our quota of standing around, so we took off in the other direction.  It was cool to see it though, and then to watch the videos on Youtube from people who had had closer encounters with them.

MosaiCanada 150

I kind of got derailed about posting about Hawaii, but I will get back to it!  In the meantime, here are some photos of the MosaiCanada topiary displays that are in Parc Jacques-Cartier this summer.

Ed got to learn about a lot of sterotypical Canadian iconography on this outing.  Here he is with the Mountie, representing Saskatchewan:

The lobster fisherman, Nova Scotia:

The muskoxen (my favourites!) represent the Northwest Territories, and the inukshuk is for the northern lights (which are pictured on the other side so you can't see them from this angle):

The drum dancer is for Nunavut, and the polar bear behind him is for Manitoba:

The dragons are for Beijing, I guess they get an honourable mention on Canada's 150th, so we can't be accused of being too parochial.

The voyageur:

Bison grazing:

And a couple of Mother Earth:

I really liked this event, it was my favourite of the Canada's 150th birthday celebrations.