Mount St. Helens--the Volcano!!!
One day we decided to drive up to Mount St. Helens. There are actually 3 visitors centers dedicated to Mount St. Helens. The 2 closest to Mount St. Helens were closed when we were there. They are only open from mid-May through October, because of the weather. So, we stopped at the first one. It was really neat. We learned a lot of things about volcanos. For example, did you know where the word volcano came from. The Greeks have a story for everything and this one starts with a guy named Vulcan. He is a blacksmith. When he hits the rod, that has been in the fire, it produces a lot of sparks, just like the lava exploding. Hence the name volcano from Vulcan. At least that is the short version of the story. :)
And, yes, there are another gazillion pictures in this post, but they were all so gorgeous, I couldn't leave any out!
These first couple pictures were taken from the lookout at the Visitors Center.
The kids are down at the lookout.
It was such a beautiful day. This was taken in the visitor center parking lot.
Even the road to Mount St. Helens was gorgeous.
This picture shows the turn off to the second visitors center. This one is like a childrens discovery center--playground and everything. Too bad it was closed!
The brownish-gray valley-like part in this picture was created by one of the lava/mud flows in the 1980 eruption. Apparently lava spewed in 4 directions: north, south, east, and west..so yeah, it went everywhere.
This waterfall just came out of nowwhere on the road. Of course, we had to stop. Why not, we are on vacation!
The kids wanted to feel the water--it was freezing!
Look at all the trees...
This bridge is on the edge of the original blast. Mount St. Helen's erupted on May 18, 1980. It took out more than 150,000 acres of federal, private, and commercial land. Weyerhauser is a huge lumber company. They spent $9,000,000 on replanting. They replanted over 45,ooo acres with 18.4 million seedlings--by hand. WOW!
Mount St. Helens use to be much taller. In the eruption it blew off its top. You can see where there is kind of a hole on the left. And now, in the center of this mountain there is another lava dome forming. Who knows when it will explode again!?!
This is Mt. Rainier. At the visitors center we watched a video, that said Mt. Rainier is a bigger threat now than Mount St. Helens.
The little bump on the left with a cloud at the top is Mt. Rainer. Mount St. Helens is on the right.
Oh yeah, I couldn't forget this picture. Right before this statue are signs saying, "Entering BigFoot Territory." I wanted to take a picture of the sign, but my camera battery died. And, so sad, the BigFoot Territory Gift Shop was closed. :(
4 comments:
wow, the pictures are beautiful from your last 2 posts. it reminds me so much of my mission in Seattle. In fact I went to mount rainier and hiked around the base of it. Because of the humidity and wetness, western NY is just as beautiful! And there are waterfalls in the most random of spots, closer to Palmyra though! We can't wait to go camping this summer in all the beautiful areas here!
Looks like a fun vacation! Was it great to be back in the states? Did you see Caitlin in Portland? Vacations are so fun! Ben really wants to take the kids to Mt St Helens sometime.
Gosh I miss you! Your kids are getting to big and it seems like a lifetime since we've seen you. You look fantastic and so does Tyler. I will get pics up soon. Hopefully, there will come a day when we can meet up somewhere! Take care, Love!
Such beautiful pictures. Your so lucky you get to travel alot!
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