The Unbelievable Power of Mother Nature

We left Salem, Oregon on August 9 and continued up I-5 into the state of Washington. Going through Portland we saw an amazing sight. We were on a four-lane expressway and a motorcycle cop had pulled over to the breakdown lane on the left. He jumped off the motorcycle and pointed to a car, indicating that he should pull over – which he did. Seems kind of dangerous!

We had reservations at a RV park near the Toutle River. I may have finally learned my lesson to not follow the GPS instructions, but use those published by the parks when we get close. The GPS told us to turn on this road, which we did. We came up to a railroad crossing with no bars or lights. We looked right and saw a light from a train. A freight train flew by with at least 200 cars! We went over the tracks and the road dead-ended! There was not room to turn the coach and the tow around, so Lannas had to unhook the Ford. While he was doing so, an Amtrak train rushes by – really fast! We finally got out of there and to our site, which is right by the tracks – you hear them throughout the day and night.

The next morning we drove up to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. There are several very nice visitor centers and observation areas along the 54 mile route to the final viewing area at Johnston Ridge Visitor Center. At Johnston Ridge they have a 20 minute movie on a giant screen about the eruption on May 18, 1980. It was very interesting with excellent video of the collapse of the side of the volcano, the resulting landslide, and the subsequent explosion. At the end of the movie the screen comes up and you are looking through a huge window right at the volcano! It was very impressive! As many of us remember from the news at the time, the landslide and explosion blew down trees up to 17 miles away and covered the land with ash. While the private land (much of it owned or managed by Weyerhauser) has been replanted with Douglas Fir and Noble Fir trees, the land inside the National Park has been left to regenerate on its own. You can see evidence all around of the trees that were blown down 31 years ago. You can see the pumice field that went down the side of the volcano and into the Toutle River bed. You can also see some of the 130 lakes that were created by the explosion. One preexisting lake – Spirit Lake – received debris from the blast that raised the level of water in the lake 200 feet! All in all, it was an amazing, scary reminder of the unbelievable power of Mother Nature.

Incidentally, the northwest is Bigfoot Country. Along with Mount St. Helens souvenirs, Bigfoot souvenirs are sold in the area. We even ran across a huge statue to Bigfoot!

On Thursday we went to Olympia, the capital of Washington. We participated in an interesting tour of the capitol. It is quite beautiful – with huge chandeliers, lovely coffered ceilings, and a pristine antique rug and table in one of the rooms we went to. The grounds are not as elaborate as California or even Oregon, but still pretty. We had a very pleasant lunch outside by the water – no bugs or heat!

We finished up the day by driving to the ocean from Olympia. It was quite chilly and the sand was unusual. It was a salt and pepper color. Toby loved romping through it, but she almost blended in!