Mt. Saint Helens

(Today's blogger: Fr. Michael) We left Portland and headed north. While I'm sure Washington has many things to see, there was only one place I knew of: Mt. Saint Helens. I remember when it erupted back when I was in high school. Coincidentally, we were visiting one week after the 30th anniversary of the eruption. Unfortunately, the weather was so rainy that even if we drove the 40 curvy miles from I-5 to a viewpoint 4 miles from the base of the mountain, we wouldn't have been able to see it. So we just spent some time at the visitor center 5 miles from the highway. It was interesting to talk to one of the staff who told me her memories of the eruption. She was five years old and couldn't understand why her mom wouldn't let her out to play in the "snow." It was actually a foot deep layer of volcanic ash.
Besides having nothing to take pictures of, our camera had been dropped a few days before and was no longer working. So instead of pictures, you can enjoy a little video clip of our time in the visitor center.