Jul 14, 2012 - Road Trip to Mt. St. Helens

Once again, we decided to take the advice from our neighbor in the RV park to visit Mount St. Helens while in striking distance. Consequently, when we left Portland this morning, rather than turning south to return to the RV right away, we headed north crossing the Columbia River into Washington to drive up and see the mountain! This proved to be a very beautiful drive up I-5 and more so when we reached the turn-off on Hwy 504 heading eastward. Our first stop was at the Silver Lake Visitor Center where we learned a bit about the history of...

Sep 30, 2011 - Day #23, 9-30-11

Day #23, 9-30-11 OK I lied, I’m back on again. We knew going into this trip that when you got to Big Cities that have a lot of sights to see, it would be difficult and expensive to cruise around, north-south east and west to see everything that interested you. So today we got a taste of what it would be like to have a tow car! We rented a Toyota Corolla for $21.00/day/unlimited millage @ about 35MPG. Today we set out north into Washington State to Mount Saint Helen. The trip was 217 miles round trip and ran me the $21.00 plus an estimated...

Sep 11, 2011 - Mount St. Helens

WOW! We are SO glad we didn't try to do this yesterday afternoon! We spent seven hours today seeing Mount St. Helens and taking in all the surrounding scenery, including devastation from the eruption, as well as new beauty that has evolved from it. We drove up to Johnston Ridge Observatory, the closest viewpoint to the peak of the mountain, and named after a geologist who was stationed at this ridge and died as a result of the blast from the eruption. There was plenty of warning that the mountain was going to erupt, and everyone thought the...

Aug 19, 2011 - Mt. St. Helens, WA.

We had Mount St. Helens on our list of 'must see places' when we were planning this trip. Today we drove from the Peninsula to Woodland, WA and set up camp for a couple nights. We had seen Mount ST. Helens a couple years after the eruption. It was an experience that we have talked about for years. They had just opened a route up to the Spirit Lake area. It was a rough road still covered with ash. The view points were temporary posts with pictures and info of what had happened at that spot. There were forests of trees laying dead in a...

Aug 8, 2011 - Mount St. Helens

On Saturday we went to Mt. Rainier National Park. The weather was cloudy most of the time and we couldn't see the mountain. The park was very crowded. We spent a few hours there. The one thing I noticed was that the trees were much taller than any trees in Colorado. Also, there was a lot of snow left near the visitor center. It was only 5000 feet above sea level. Since the snow was all over the walkways and trails and in a small amphitheater, I assume that amount of snow remaining this late in the summer is not normal. Everyone here, as...

Jul 5, 2011 - Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument

We have cousins who live in Washington, about four hours north of Carlo and Karen. Since Carlo, Karen, Fred and I all wanted to do a day trip up to Mt. St. Helens, we contacted Anita and her daughter Janey Marie and suggested they meet us for lunch near the volcano. Carlo and Karen remembered a really good Chinese Restaurant just off the Interstate at the exit to Mt. St. Helens, so we agreed to meet there. It was a two hour drive for each group, so it worked out well. We arrived a little bit before Anita and Janey and the Chinese restaurant...

Jul 29, 2010 - Devastation beyond compare.

It was difficult to leave Portland and Vancouver behind without spending some time poking about, but given our past experiences with this large vehicle in big cities, we decided to listen to Beth Ann's wisdom regarding the congested streets of Portland. Another place to visit when we come back! But before we left we had burgers for breakfast! No, that's not a typo! Burgers for breakfast...how can one get more decadent?!! Having not had a burger since last year made it even more outrageous. But you have to experience Burgerville to believe...

Apr 22, 2010 - Exploring Mount St. Helens

Having come inland from the coast we spent the day exploring the Mount St Helens area. Our first stop was at the Mount St Helens Visitor Centre. Here we learnt about Mount St Helen’s volcanic eruption history and its geology. Mount St Helens is one of several volcanic peaks that dominate the Cascade Range. Geologist call Mount St Helen a composite volcano, a term for steep sided, often symmetrical cones constructed of alternating layers of lava flow, ash and other volcanic debris. These types of volcanoes tend to erupt explosively and pose...

Mar 6, 2010 - Mt St Helens

Good Bye, once again, to Long Beach and Mom & Dad. Officially, we are on our way home. We left this morning heading out along the Columbia River, and plan to camp in the vicinity of Mt St. Helens. Along our way, we found a nice spot along the river where Scott was able to pull out the fishing pole for a bit and get "the line wet". Didn't catch anything, but had fun. We found a campgrounds about 50+ miles from a few good viewing sites of Mount St Helens. We got settled, and then headed out to enjoy the view. First stop was one of four...

Sep 1, 2009 - Mt. Saint Helens/Castle Rock, WA.

We left Port Angeles around 10 am and headed west on the famous Hwy. 101 that runs down the Washington, Oregon, and California coasts. This was a beautiful drive, but much of it was under construction and we had many delays. After all the rough and pot holed roads we travelled getting to Alaska we had a rock hit our windshield and make our first crack, it is small, but it's there! Got to the campground around 4 pm and set up camp and then hurried to get to Mt. St. Helens before they closed the Visitor center at 6 pm. We had a 40 mile...

Aug 24, 2009 - There she blows

Day 10 in the Big Trek Camp 4pm: The campmates arrive at the foot of Mount St Helens after a very long drive through Oregon into Washington state and quickly start to snap away at one of the most famous volcanoes in the world. It's Princess' birthday today and Skippy has spent most of the day embarassing her in public places including McDonalds and now at the visitor centre of Mount St Helens. One of the park rangers sings a very sweet Happy Birthday to her over the tannoy and she goes a delightful shade of pink, matching her Princess...

Aug 3, 2009 - Mount Saint Helens

Today our mission was to take the 55 mile drive up to the Johnson Ridge Observatory at Mount Saint Helens. Following our guide books instructions, we drove the 90 minutes straight up there and then worked our way back. You indeed get a a great impression of the magnitude of the events that occurred that day in May 1980. We watched a short movie and toured around the centre then hiked up the short trail to get an awesome view of the mountain. On the way down we stopped at the National Forest Learning Centre and another lodge where we...