V is for Volcanoes

I've been fascinated by volcanoes pretty much my entire life.  At their core, volcanoes are a reminder of just how active and violent our planet can be.  Their eruptions are both beautiful and terrifying at the same time.  They can form new islands in the ocean and can also destroy everything in their nearby radius.

My interest in volcanoes started when I discovered the portion of the non-fiction section of the school library with books on various kinds of natural disasters and events.  I read everything the library had on tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes and storms.  My favorites, and the ones that I ended up checking out again and again were the ones on volcanoes.  I also watched PBS specials on volcanoes on TV when I could, and was fascinated by footage of volcano eruptions.

As a young man, one of my favorite camping destinations with my family was Lassen Volcanic National Park.  I very much enjoyed hiking to the top of the Cinder Cone and Mt. Lassen, both dormant volcanoes.  Other hikes, such as the Bumpass Hell trail, offered views of bubbling mud pits, steam vents, and similar, allowing one to see (on smaller scale) related geological action.

I have been to Hawaii a couple of times as an adult, but have not yet managed to go tour the active lava flows; I would like to go back to do that someday.  I have enjoyed visits to other areas of volcanic in the northernmost part of California and Oregon.  Crater Lake in Oregon, for example, is actually contained within what was once a massive volcano that collapsed a long, long time ago.  I'm always interested to visit sites of volcanic activity and marvel at the awesome potential of our earth.  What can I say; I'm a fan!