The lava field next door

We stayed at the Aston Shores at Waikoloa. Waikoloa, for those of you who don't know, is the Big Island's nexus of mega-resorts on the western, desert side. (The big town on the island's west side is Kona so you call it the "Kona side", as opposed to the eastern "Hilo side" where anything less than 70 inches of rain annually arouses drought concerns.) Anyway, Waikoloa is... convenient, especially if you're traveling with 85-year-olds, as we were. I don't have a lot to say about Waikoloa, the nexus of mega-resorts, except that it's... convenient.

But I do want to show you the lava field, with petroglyphs, around which Waikoloa, the nexus of mega-resorts, is built.

That's our parking lot on the right. Besides being somewhat heart-breaking, one of my favorite things about Hawai'i is the extreme juxtaposition of natural and man-made environments.



One step in this direction, and you stand on virgin land spewed from the guts of Mother Earth some millennia ago. One step in the other direction, and it's a golf course. It's like Four Corners, but more elemental, more visceral, and a little bit inscrutable.



The fountain grass you see everywhere on the Kona side (north of Kona anyway) is not part of the natural natural environment. That's Pennisetum setaceum, an escaped ornamental from the nexus of mega-resorts. (Gardeners...pfft!)



Just looking at it prompts musings on accelerated rates of soil formation, et cetera. The lava fields are very quiet, and prompt introspection.



So do the craters and caverns and tubes you often find.



How close do you want to get?



Some people feel inclined to leave offerings to Pele in places like this.



Other people leave different kinds of offerings, to no one in particular.



As always, I am just here to take pictures.





Near here you can see ancient petroglyphs.



Now you have two different kinds of man-made environments to contemplate. The juxtapositions are piling up!



But you can just keep going.



And going.



And going.