Right, the Lava Tubes from yesterday. Whee!

So, after Mom and I hiked from the overflow parking lot for the Lava Tubes, parking there in error, to the main parking lot and the Lava Tube entrance (an easy 1km hike), we walked up a short distance, then down the paved switchbacks to the tube entrance. Which, by the way, totally looks like a cave you'd see in an Indiana Jones movie if said movies had handrails surrounding said caves. Oh, and signs pointing you where to go for the treasure:

There was a nice bit of stairs waiting for someone to wait at them, maybe hear a lecture on the lava tube formation (which, incidentally, was from a flow of lava having a slower flow cool on top of it and harden, as the now-buried flow kept moving), or record jungle bird sounds (which is what Mom and I did).

Okay, here's something I don't understand:

If everyone is going to go around the gates, why not put the barrier where people are actually going?

Yes, yes, I completely understand that it is more likely the view was developed AFTER the barrier went in, and know that. It was, however, an opportunity to tell my mom about the "pave the paths" story, though I told it pretty-much tech-universe centered. Something like the stories collected on this page:

I really want to put a "the" in that title....

Mom and I went to the volcano today. For the first time since 1982, the volcano has been spewing and sloshing hot lava (a term which cracks me up and makes me think of the Hot Lava ultimate frisbee team) in the caldera. Because of this appearance and subsequent sloshing, the volcano is quite popular as a tourist destination. Where previously you could just drive around a big hole at the top of the hill, now you can see smoke rising from the hill and red lava sloshing. Win!

Of note, it's not called THE volcano. You go to Volcano. Turns out, there's a town just outside of the volcano named, unsurprisingly, Volcano. This is where you go. The volcano itself is in the national park outside of the city. You say, "We are going to Volcano," not "We are going to the volcano."

And people think Los Angelenos are weird with their freeways. :eyeroll:

This was originally posted on The Pastry Box for 30 April 2015.