At age 4, grandson Samson Oinam Peck delights in dinosaurs. He’s also a full-blown citizen of the Marvel superhero universe. But Sam’s current fascination is with volcanoes. He knows his caldera (a post-eruption hollow) from a hole in the ground, so it seemed time to trade at-home simulations using Mentos and diet soda for seeing the real deal in person.
Sam and his parents live in Chennai, in south India, and taking his fixation beyond YouTube videos would involve a family meet-up. His mom’s longstanding Green Card filing took Hawai’i off the table — ironically, just before Mauna Loa’s ongoing eruption surged into the news. Italy seemed promising, though, what with Vesuvius and Etna. Not to make light of volcanoes’ potentially fatal power, but we hoped Sam could sense their primal majesty.
In a potential augury, Mount Stromboli, the volcanic island off Sicily’s north coast, showed signs of erupting just as we arrived in Venice to start our journey. It’s still blowing its top, but Stromboli is isolated, so our pursuit would target Mount Etna, on the eastern side of Sicily, and Mount Vesuvius, on the mainland near Naples. After some setbacks, Sam’s quest would be realized at the volcanic aftermath of Pompeii.