Natural Disasters, part I

Vesuvius is a volcano near Naples, Italy. As every school child knows, it has been active on and off for many centuries. On this day in 79 AD (that would be 1,940 years ago) Vesuvius erupted. I mean really erupted, like cataclysmically. One prosperous city to the south, Pompeii, was buried under hot ash. Another more modest city, Herculaneum (or Ercolano as the locals call it), west of the summit, nearer the Bay of Naples, was overrun by molten lava.  Parts of both cities have been excavated and are worth visiting.

I prefer Ercolano because it's far less crowded than Pompeii and there are a couple very nice little bars just outside the old city. One can enjoy a cold beer and lovely views of the bay while contemplating the power of nature and other heavy topics.

I once rode the gondola up the side of Vesuvius, but couldn't get to the summit that day because of fog. We've visited the volcanoes in Hawaii and Washington and of course Sicily. We got lost driving from Taormina to Calascibetta. Trying to get back to the highway, we went through Paterno, on the flank of Etna, a city that seemed to have more than its share of dead end streets.

Some of the oldest exposed volcanic rocks on earth can be found along the north shore of Lake Superior. The photo below was taken at the Cascade River gorge near Schroeder, MN. Those are volcanic rocks tens of millions of years old. Up on the bridge, you can spy Daniel, Christy, and Kathy.

There are few volcanoes near New York City, but that didn't deter the New York Dolls.

...and the crowd erupts in applause!