My greatest geologic obsession is with volcanoes and their surrounding features. I was greatly excited by visiting Kilauea on the Big Island of Hawai'i in 2008. Since that time, I and my husband Eric have been touring the earth's volcanoes, tramping over lava flows, walking deep into lava tubes, hiking to soaring peaks, stomping on glaciers in crampons, photographing many examples of columnar basalt, descending into a dormant volcano on a window-cleaning machine, and entering straight into an actively steaming volcano (wearing gas masks). We've explored the snow-capped peaks of the Cascades, the glaciated mountains of Alaska, the steaming geysers of Yellowstone, the crystalline icebergs of Jokulsarlon in Iceland, and the roaring vents of Whakaari/White Island on the North Island of New Zealand.  

Volcanoes are places where our planet is in rapid flux. They show us up close how geologic change, normally a lengthy process, can sometimes take place in an instant. They remind us that, while the ground beneath us may seem one of the most solid things in our lives, nothing is eternal, and change is the only sure thing. They are features of awesome power and strength, the power to remake the world.