Mount St. Helens

The last day in Washington was spent down at Mount St. Helens.  It was about a 2 hour drive from the Seattle area.  this place is simply spectacular.  We’ve all seen the pictures and videos of the eruption and devastation it caused but none of that does it any justice at all.  It’s very hard to get a sense of scale here.  It looks pretty close, but when you look down into the valley in front of you everything is really, really small.  This mountain is huge.  A helicopter few ion front of the caldera and it was a speck.  We thought it was inside the crater but it wasn’t.  there’s a picture of it.

We had a real eye opener when we were leaving.  We ate at a little place @15-20 miles from the observatory.  It was above the Toutle River which is where the worst of the mudslides went.   The gray ash deposits are really wide here.  Probably 1/2 mile or so with the river running through the center of it.  The ash here is @ 150 feet deep.  ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY feet!  That’s the new riverbed.  it just filled in the valley.  And it goes on and on for miles and miles.  Bridges were damaged over 50 miles downstream.

1300 feet of the top of the mountain disappeared in seconds, first from the biggest landslide ever recorded in human history to the initial blast when it did erupt seconds later.

Ok, enough rambling.  Click the pic!  Enjoy!  I did.

Mount St. Helens Panorama from Johnston Ridge Observatory

Click the Panorama for the full size version.  It’s BIG!

As always, comments are welcome at the Facebook Page.

Market, Waterfront and Skyline

Hey again!  Greetings from day 2 in Seattle.  Another packed day for sure.  We started off by going straight to the market @ 10 to have breakfast and see all there was to see.  What an amazing place.  From the famous fish market where they throw the big fish around to small shops selling everything from handmade jewelry to flowers, veggies, fruit,  jerky, you name it.  And, of course, the touristy shops that I love so much…

Then we made our way down to the waterfront and walked and walked and walked and…  That area is mostly tourist shops and restaurants.  And crowded.  Everywhere we went this weekend was really crowded.  The weather has been beyond perfect.  A little chilly Sunday, but still, better a little chilly than oven hot.

Laurie’s son had a drum band “recital” in the afternoon.  He’s been taking drumming lessons here and they form into bands to practice and perform.  Sayler’s performance was @2:30 and we went to see this.  Sayler drummed on a couple then sang Iron maiden’s Run to the Hills.  I have video of this but won’t be able to post it until I get home.

After this we drove to a really cool area.  Alki Point.  Got some great skyline pics from the park there and then fought serious traffic on very narrow roads in the little community to have a late afternoon lunch/dinner (linner?).  Great fish and chips!  Then we headed back to the waterfront area to take the harbor boat tour.  2.5 hours around the harbor then through the locks into Lake Union.

Whew.  I’m really skimming over the day here, I’ll let the pictures do the rest of the talking!

Seattle Panorama from Alki Park

Seattle Skyline at Night from Alki Park

First Day in Seattle

What a tiring day.  From getting up at 3am in Atlanta (too early as it turns out) and spending a full 24 hours up I was a tired boy.  We Spent most of the afternoon at the Space Needle.  There is a festival (Seattle Bites) going on this weekend and it was CROWDED.  Waited in line for @ 1 hour to ride the elevator up to the top.

After we left here we drove to an area where there is a canal between Lake Union and the Sound.  The elevation between the two bodies of water is several feet so they have built a lock system to allow boats to pass between the 2.  Chittendon Locks.  We hung out here for a while, watched a group of small boats pass through the locks.  There is also a fish ladder here to allow the salmon to pass upstream to the spawning grounds.  Watched a few big salmon jump up the little waterfalls.  There was a pretty resourceful seal just hanging out in the area.  He knew where the good eating was.  Then on to dinner and SLEEP…

It was a very full day.  Can’t wait for more.

Comments are always welcome at my Facebook page!

Going up the elevator at the Space Needle

Going down the elevator again!