Better Late Than Never

Posted on September 21, 2019September 21, 2019 by Dusty Roads | 4 Comments

Late is Better than Not At All

Hi Friends. I know I’ve been negligent in keeping up with my posts. To be completely honest I’ve just been tired. My energy has not bounced back since my hip surgery in December. Oh Don’t get me wrong, I’d do it again in a heartbeat. Its wonderful to be pain free, at least on my left side. Now if I could just figure out what to do about the right knee and right hip I’d be ready for the Boston Marathon. Needless to say, with this lack of energy I haven’t been out with my camera or going on any “adventures”. It’s been enough to get me to work and home again every day. But I managed to roust myself enough this week to go thru my photos from 2018. And that’s what I plan to share today.

The Deer Did It

Kilauea Lava Lake Glow- 2018

Driving home from work on Wednesday I saw 3 deer playing in a field in Easton, and they were playing, not just grazing. Seeing them I felt a little tug. My hand reached for the camera but it wasn’t there. It made me realize how far away from things I love I’ve gotten. The reason for my surgery wasn’t just to be pain free but to give me mobility to get out and do things. And I was squandering my chance. To get back on track I decided I needed to pick up some of my old habits. Number one is to review the photos from the previous year and narrow it down to the top 10.

2017 Was a very Good Year

The first thing I did was to start uploading my 2018 photos. When I did I happened to notice my 2017 choices. Oh my! They were going to be hard to beat. 2017 was a very good year for my photos. For good or bad I didn’t have a lot of photos from 2018 to wade through but that didn’t make the decisions any easier. Here, in no particular order are my top ten choices from 2018. You can see them full size in a slide show at https://dustyroadsphotos.zenfolio.com/

2018 Photographer’s Choice

: Colonial Williamsburgh 2018

: Carriage Colonial Williamsburgh 2018

: Busch Gardens – Santa

: Big Island Hula 2018

: Plumeria 2018

: Akaka Falls Big Island 2018

: Jamestown 2018

: Nene Big Island 2018

: Sunflower and butterfly 2018

: New England Colors 2018

Inside Volcano National Park

Posted on June 3, 2018June 3, 2018 by Dusty Roads

Volcano National Park is currently Closed

Our Visit to Volcano National Park was one of the last before Kilauea blew her top. Who would have guessed that we were witnessing the start of something so big? The eruptions we witnessed were small compared to what was to come but we had no idea. At the time we thought our visit was pretty special. Kilauea has been erupting continuously since January 3, 1983. It’s considered a relatively safe volcano. Lava flows are easily out paced just by walking quickly. For quite a few years the lava has been flowing into the sea and I was on the Big Island to see that. But Kilauea wasn’t in a cooperative mood. A week before my trip the lava flow into the ocean stopped. I had to settle for a National Park Tour.

The Chain of Craters Road

After leaving Rainbow Falls we headed to Volcano National Park. On the drive I entertained myself looking for Nenes. A nene is a rare Hawaiian goose that is also the Hawaiian National Bird. The Nene is only found in the Hawaiian Islands. I’ve looked for the Nene on every trip without success but one of these days I’ll see one. As we entered the park and started down the Chain of Craters Road the rain began to let up. We made a couple of stops to look at some of the craters from previous eruptions. Finally about 1/2 way down to the plain we pulled over to check out the frozen lava flows. These ropy flows that are now frozen in place are Pahoehoe. The lava we saw on the Kona side of the island was thick, blocky lava,called a’a.

King of the Hill

Watching my tour companions scramble up the face of the lava made me think of the King of the hill games. I would never have considered climbing it! I was more interested in the new green shoots that were pushing their way through the hardened lava. Life will not be denied.

Jaggar Museum

The afternoon was passing quickly so we loaded back into the van and turned around. The last stop before dinner was the Jaggar Museum. The plan was to see the rim of the crater and spend some time in the museum. In the crater is a lake of lava. When I was here last the lake was quiet and crusted over. That was kind of what I expected now but we arrived just as the eruption was beginning. The rain was starting again but no one was in the museum. Everyone was lined up at the rail watching the lava lake. The rangers were reporting the lake was rising and even as we stood there tops of lava fountains began to crest the rim.

Haleakala

Posted on November 11, 2016November 11, 2016 by Dusty Roads

Leaving the Banyan tree behind we started for Paia. But sitting at a stop light we saw a sign for Haleakala National Park. You guessed it…diversion #2. It was about 10:30 am by now and we thought it would be a just a quick side trip. After all, we weren’t going at sunrise or sunset, the 2 most popular times to visit.

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The airport shuttle driver in Albany had told us that we should make the drive because we could see the whole island from the summit and it would be worth it. As we entered the park a sign warned that there was no gas available in the park. I looked at our gas gauge. It was 1/2 full so I figured that should be enough. The sign also said it was 22 miles.

sunrise-haleakala

Haleakala, aka “House of the Sun”, is a dormant volcano that is famous for its sunrise and the people that take the bike tour to see it. They take a van to the summit and after they watch the sunrise they bike down the mountain.

haleakala-bikes

The operative word here being “down”. They really fly! All along the road were warning signs to watch for bikers. There were a few hard core bikers that were going up. I guess there are always going to be a few people that have to do it the hard way!

selfpaced_bike_tour-400x260

We made it to the first check point with no problem. Sandy had a National Park Pass so we only had to stop at the gate to pick up our brochure and show the pass. The entrance fee without the pass is $20.00 per vehicle in 2016. The price is scheduled to go up in 2017 to $25.00.

national-park-passes-21803924

2nd stop was at the first visitor center.

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Here we made a rest stop and chatted with the rangers. We learned that the park is home to the Nene, the Hawaiian Goose and state bird. There is a pair that lives near the station but they only come out when it rains to play in the puddles. We didn’t see a Nene but we did see some little birds that seemed to be hunkered down. 017