All the Hawaiian Islands have great beaches and hiking and waterfalls, but The Big Island's unique attraction is the lava flowing from its active volcano, Kilauea. Lava has been pouring forth from Pu'u O'o crater for over two years, surprising scientists who have never seen an eruption last this long. We hiked in the dark over sharp and uneven hardened lava for nearly 2 hours each way with only a flashlight to light the way, but were rewarded with an amazing display of crackling red lava right before our eyes. On the dark hike back, the moonless sky was packed full of more stars than seemed possible.

Despite my general wimpiness at hiking on treacherous terrain in the dark, and despite Philip tripping into a gap and slicing both shins to the bone the first time, the lava was so impressive we hiked out again on our last night - this time starting while the sun was still up. We came within inches of the oozing 2000ºF lava, and even poked it with a stick (no pictures of that, sadly). And we witnessed the surreal site of lava streams pouring into the ocean as plumes of red steam swirled around. Thinking about it gets me babbling again, so I'll once again direct you to the pictures...