Awesome beauty

I cannot imagine any one wanting to visit up close and personal the crater of an active volcano which is 11,380 feet above ground and 1,300 feet deep, the spectacular wonder of the African Continent ---Nyiragongo Crater one of eight volcanoes forming Virunga Range. The e-mail this morning certainly made me wake up in a hurry.

This is how you suit up to walk along the lava edge guided by radio. The heat reaches 1,300 degrees. I am complaining of wanting heat and sunshine but I doubt that this is what I would look for. I might stand on the ridge and look down but you can be sure I would not venture any further than that.

A lava overflow, how beautiful.

The team undergoes four months of training. What courage and what dedication these men have to go out and put themselves in harms way to measure the gases and to find out more about the volcano in hopes of saving lives should there be an eruption. The photographer did an outstanding job, and I, for one, enjoy the fruits of his labor. There is so much in our world we do not even know exists and then someone who appreciates the dedication, courage and conviction of the scientific minds shares a story, or pictures, and each of us learns something about the world we live in. My heartfelt thanks to all of you who take the time to share.

So today, I hope you received some special travel videos, or some journeys to places like this strange and frightening hole full of bubbling gases. I hope it stretches your mind and heart and fills your soul with the awesome wonders of our world. Beside receiving this one, there was another on the different countries of Europe and the pictures were so inviting. Armchair travel is second best and gives us a birds eye view of what this miraculous globe contains. If you haven't traveled out of your comfort zone, plan a trip, go somewhere you have never been with an open mind and an open heart and enjoy every minute of new sights and sounds and meet some wonderful people in your travels. I promise you will grow in ways you never gave thought to. Hugs to all.