One more day.....
That refrain kept going through the vacationing family's minds all day long - like that song that just won't go away.
It's been fun but.....one more day! YEA!
The almost 16 year-old has been entertaining himself by taking cell phone pictures of all the "hot girls" in Oregon & Washington. As he, VacationGirl, and wonderful husband were sitting in a local restaurant being thankful that this particular chain does not exist back home, the cute little waitress and the almost 16 year-old kept giving each other "those looks" that only can happen between two young adults. He claimed that he was going to ask to take her picture. And when she asked why, he was going to tell her that he wanted to show all his friends back home how pretty the girls were in Oregon. Of course, VacationGirl and amused husband called him on it and darned if he didn't ask her. He took her picture and she blushed quite cutely.
Good thing she didn't ask 'why' since we were in Washington, not Oregon, and she might think we were raising an illiterate young man that didn't know what state he was in!
Today was Mt. St. Helen's day. The trip was an easy one - a quick 10 miles up the road to Rt 504 which takes you directly into Johnston Ridge Center, which is the closest that you can get to the mountain these days.
There were many good stops along the way - at one point, we had a great view of Mt. Adams and for a very short time, we could see Mt. Rainier poking its top up over the ridge. It was actually a very beautiful but sobering trip into the park. All around you can see new life growing up where the trees and grounds were stipped from the 1980 blast. But also all around the park, you can still see the downed timber - reminents of the blast.
The view from Johnston Ridge is great - you can actually see the new lava dome building. Apparently, it started building almost immediately after the blast 25 years ago. The new dome can be seen in the picture below - it's the one with the steam coming out. All around the park are warnings about what to do if there is an ash cloud - but we were also told that Johnston Ridge is typically not hit with them.
Standing on viewpoint from Johnston Ridge was kinda weird - it was named after a young geologist that died in the blast 25 years ago. He was monitoring the activity from there and calling in results - during his last transmission, he was "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!" , then where was silence. Apparently, there was a ham radio observer named Gerry Martin that was parked two miles north of Johnston Ridge. He saw the avalanche and explosion and transmitted "The camper and the car just over to the south of me (Dave Johnston's observation post) are covered. It's going to hit me too."
They say that if you took the Washington Monument and placed it in the crater, it would only be a little more than half as high as the new lava dome. The crater that got blown out in 1980 is 1-mile wide and 2 miles long and 2000 feet deep. - It's huge.
Monday is going to the whirlwind tour - a quick drive by of Mt. Rainier - because it's there and then on to Seattle to go up in the Space Needle and visit a few more points of interest. Should be fun!
See you there!
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