We've just come back from a wonderful week on the Big Island of Hawai'i, spending most of our vacation in the south Kona area around Kealakekua. Unfortunately, we were so greedy for sun on the first clear day that we stayed on the beach too long and got ourselves sunburned, despite our best efforts with the sunscreen—not lobster style, but enough to keep us out of the water for a few days. Fortunately, our friends Alex and Shannon, who just happened to be also visiting from Portland, staying just ten miles down the road from our place, were up for a trip to the rainy side of the island to see what the volcano's up to. After checking out the crater, we drove around to the east side of the lava fields to see if we could hike out to where the lava is flowing into the sea. We didn't make it (we walked a couple miles and the steam never got any closer) but we did take lots of photos of the pahoehoe.