A look back: Volcano Eruptions & The Big Island & Dancing with Lava

The video and photos of the eruptions of Kilauea brings back long ago memories of summers on the Big Island. When we were growing up, we visited Grandma and Grandpa every summer in Hilo and always loved to visit Volcano National Park. During a few of our many visits we were sometimes lucky enough to see the earth open up and give us a glimpse of its red glowing molten core.

My Mom, who grew up in Hilo, told me this story, of when she was little. It was about the closest she has been to a river of red hot flowing lava. To view the flow, they walked on cooled lava that was still so hot she had to keep moving her feet up and down to keep them from burning. She also had to keep turning around like a roast, because the heat from the flow they were watching was so intense from their vantage point, that she couldn't continually face it without becoming too hot. The flow was just yards away from her! She danced with the hot lava that day.

Today, for safety reasons, the public does not get to experience the flows like that.