By Mac Malambri
Like Professor Knapp predicted, today was cloudy. We awoke and no one wanted to leave the house. Every other day, we’ve had early morning swims or kayaking. This morning, breakfast was over TV. We all ran from the house to the vans in preparation for our journey today.
We first headed to the lava trees. This was my area to introduce. The lava trees were created by the 1790 eruption of Kilauea. They occur when lava surrounds trees. Sometimes, the moisture evaporates, cooling the trees and preventing them from burning before the lava solidifies. This creates vertical pillars of rock called lava trees. Alternatively, lava can also cause the trees to burn. After the lava solidifies, this leaves an imprint of the bark on rock that geologists can use to learn about the flora before the eruption and also date the eruption. The lava trees were cool to see.
Next, we went to visit this couple that Professor Knapp met at an art gallery they help run in downtown Hilo. They offered to make pizzas and tell us about their experience during the eruption. We drove to their house. When we got there, they told us to walk down the road in their neighborhood towards fissure 8. Fissure 8 was the fissure that caused the most destruction during the 2018 eruption of Kilauea. It was crazy to see this normal neighborhood street suddenly give way to pahoehoe lava. You could even see the iron fence piercing out of the lava at places. People had put tents and even a greenhouse on their old property that was covered in lava.
We then went to visit the couple. They had made these amazing pizzas with all sorts of vegetables on it. They were so good. Their house was filled with beautiful artwork as they are both artists. The husband is a Vietnam veteran who became a truck driver. The wife worked as a physician’s assistant in California. They moved to Hawaii about ten years ago. In 2018, the eruption began. They were evacuated within 24 hours of geologists identifying the eruption. They temporarily moved to Kona during the eruption. They said that it was scary to not know what condition their house was in. It took 18 months to move them back into their home.
We finally returned to the house and enjoyed pizza for dinner as prepared to leave.