We Did Something Fun!

We finally got out of the house on Sunday and did something fun. I know, it’s amazing isn’t it? We did something fun together! We put the dogs in the car and drove up to the north side of Mt. St. Helens. We visited the south side a few years ago and were amazed at how desolate it looked . We chose to go to the north side this time since neither of us had ever visited the visitor’s center or the observatories. It was a really nice drive and some of the views were just breathtaking. It’s amazing how different things look from the other side of the mountain. Since the mountain blew on the north side, nothing in the blast zone survived. It was all washed away in the mudslide and everything else that gushed down the mountain and into the Toutle River. On the south side, it just got the blast part, so there are millions of logs laying on the ground like toothpicks. The Forest Service didn’t replant anything in the blast zone area, but the majority of the land from I-5 about to the edge of the blast zone is owned by Weyerhaeuser. They lost a lot of logging camps, equipment, and trees in the eruption, and had to take out a bazillion dead logs. In 1981 they started replanting millions of little baby trees, so there are all these new trees on the drive up. None of them are older than 25 years, so huge stands of young trees are all about the same size. As we were driving along we’d come to these whole hillsides of these Nobel Firs that are all about the same size. It was a really bizarre sight, because it looks like one of those 3D pictures that you have to squint and cross your eyes to see.

The observatories were nice. Greg said it was amazing how much money could be generated from a natural disaster, as all the observatories had gift shops that sold the usual gift shoppy type things. Happily for me, that included a penny machine in all but one place! So I came home with 12 new Mt. St. Helens smashed pennies. I had to fend off a couple of little kids to get to the machines, though.

Greg got some terrific pictures, which I include here for your viewing pleasure.

This is the bridge at the very edge of the "Blast Zone" (sounds like a ride at Disneyland, doesn't it?).

The land heading up to the mountain. Isn't it amazing how bare it looks?

The view from Johnson Ridge Observatory. The mountain is about 5 miles away from us here.

Old St. Helens put on a little show for us while we were there. This is the lava dome, and yes, that is steam coming out of it. She doesn't like us to forget she's an active volcano!

A lovely over-all view.

These are the 3-D trees. You can kind of get the effect in the picture. Weird, huh?

Okay, I have to go listen to the B52's now. Somehow I have "Hot Lava" stuck in my head. Wonder why?