I have been fascinated by volcanoes since I was a small boy living with my family in Japan. From the back yard of our home we could see Mount Fujiyama in the distance. It was then I learned about volcanoes and their propensity to go boom.
Despite the fact I could not have been much older than four or perhaps five, I somehow remember a day trip down the coast to a lighthouse. Recently my older sister sent me some scanned shots from the trip, juicing the images and reminding me of the island sitting offshore. There isn't a picture of it, so I must assume it's a valid recollection.
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| The Kilauea caldera, Hawaii |
The island, roughly conical in a shape similar to a flattened Mount Fuji, rising to a low, pointed summit where smoke was billowing forth. I do recall my father's explanation -- though now I assume it was tailored to a four year old perspective -- and had a brief rush of fear that mountain would explode. The kind of fear that is mixed with a rush of excitement wishing, perhaps deep inside, that it would happen and I would be there to see it.
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| Mount Etna, Sicily |
But all of them fascinate me and excite me. It's the sense that we're very much just passengers on this planet, and -- should she want -- mother nature is very capable of reminding us who is boss.
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| Mount Etna's smoldering summit |
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| Kilaeua. A large SUV can be seen as a dot on the highway behind |
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| Standing on the lava flow, meters from the edge of the summit. |
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| Utter destruction near St Helens |
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| Mount Saint Helens |
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| Perhaps the most famous volcano in the world, Mount Vesuvius towers over Naples |
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| Vuesivius in the afternoon sun |
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| Vesuvio Dawn |
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| Cindercone in the Mojave Desert, California |
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| The lava fields in the Mojave |
