The End of the Road We have stopped at what used to be a black sand beach until a lava flow covered it. Our schedule didn't permit a hike all the way out to the ocean to see if any sand had formed since that eruption. But we saw some interesting lava, and those pictures are here.   See the ferns sprouting in the cracks of the pãhoehoe. These ferns will grow and happily multiply in this little crevice until they pry it apart enlarging it to accommodate these ferns that have colonized this newly formed land on earth. I wonder how big this crevice will be in 1000 years. Lasting Impressions When we saw the impressions in the lava above, we wondered how they had occured. We soon found what we sought in a tree nearby. The impressions were of fruit that had been pitched into the hot lava! So somebody was standing within throwing distance while the lava was flowing! No doubt it was somebody that lived or worked in the complex where our bus had parked. There were a few houses and a small restaurant there. The tree in the picture above was spared by the lava floe that is pictured on this page. The fruit of that tree, similar to that highlighted, is no doubt responsible for the impressions left in the lava pictured above. It's hard to believe that this exact location was a sandy beach within the memory of the employees of the little restaurant where our bus was parked. While on the Big Island of Hawaii, we'll hop over to the west side and visit Kailua-Kona, a.k.a. Kona. While at Kona we will take a helicopter flight over the volcano, Kilauea.

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