Hawaii

Welcome to the only place in the U.S. where you can walk up to a volcanic eruption and see a living lava flow. True, you'll have to hike over rough lava rock terrain to get top this spot in Volcanoes National Park, but the payoff is spectacular views of fiery lava entering the ocean, exploding into great billowing plumes of steam, sulfuric gases, and volcanic pumice. Fifteen miles southeast of the visitors' center, the park's Chain of Craters Road terminates at a point where lava flows have cut the coastal road. In this wild, mostly flat coastal area, visitors witness lava flows from Kilauea Volcano entering the ocean. The flows are often via underground lava tubes with occasional surface breakouts. The lava flows change constantly, entering the ocean at various points or meandering atop solidified lava flows.