A National Eruption

Well as Paigee put's it, "Dad, how many craters can you
see in one day ?". It didn't live up to her
expectations, but she did say she was glad we finally
arrived after the "BUMP". We drove along the crater
of the Caldera seeing all the highlights. The most
exciting part was "suppose" to be at the end of a
longer drive off the beaten path. In this effort
we drove 30 some odd miles to walk 3 miles ( each way )
to get a close up of lava flowing into the sea.
What they didn't tell you is that after the 30 miles
you stopped at a Ranger Station and then began the
more difficult portion of the journey. 1/2 mile of
the trek was asphalt and the other 2 1/2 miles was
lava. Even I thought it was a bit dicey at times.
We gave up shortly into the lava portion of the journey
and headed back to the car. Although we could see steam
rising from the lava flowing into the sea, "it just
isn't as exciting as seeing the lava up close !"
I can't recall the words but she even made up a song
about steam.

You would have thought not a single soul we passed
on the hike had ever seen a Cancer victim from the
way they averted their glance until they were right
on top of us and then just stared. The bravest
was a small girl ( around 1 ) sitting on her Father's
shoulders that had the cojones to point at Paigee and
say something in baby talk. Paigee was sure she was
saying to her parents, "look at that girl with no
hair".

Of course I looked like the selfish parent who was
so self absorbed he had to take his vacation even if
his child had Cancer, I even had the nerve to force
her to take a long walk to see lava flowing into the
sea.

Paigee's first Make A Wish didn't hold a candle to
our self funded Make A Wish. If nothing else I will
always know that Rosie and I made every effort to
make up for the 30 awful months of missed opportunities;
Brownies, Soccer, dance classes, not to mention many
vacations. You have to know it was great if it tied
with Kid's Club !

The trip from Waikaloa to the Park looked like a fairly
straight line. Paigee couldn't believe how slow the
journey was. The road twisted and turned like a mountain
road's switch backs. We averaged 30 to 40 mph. This is
the first time I have experienced my child's displeasure
with my carefully laid plans.

I am hacking this out just to get the jist of the day
before I forget. Revisions to follow !