She was a Day Tripper

Packed up the kids and headed for the volcano. Mt. St. Helens has been on the list for two years. We drove to the Observation Station directly across from the crater and saw some amazing footage of the top blowing. I was amazed at the landscape for miles around. The blast sent hot ash and rock 12 miles into the air. The North side of the mountain slid off and went for miles like a river down into the towns surrounding the mountain. There was enough earth in the slide to make a 3 foot deep, 7-lane hi-way from Portland to NYC. Wow. It looked like we were on the moon. The picture of the dragon fly was at an information station about 40 miles away from the mountain. The rivers were all diverted and filled with mud and many miles of land turned into marshland. There were tons of dragonflies and tadpoles. The faraway lake is Spirit Lake which was filled with earth and trees after the explosion. Interesting stuff.

Two beauties...errrrrr make it three.

Today Carson, Gma, Gpa, and I went downtown and met Share for lunch at some funky hotdog place and then she went back to work. The rest of us went to the Portland Art Museum to check out the French painting exhibit which was quite intriquing to the 7 year old. Nearly everyone was naked (in the paintings) and there were many Cupids involved. We had a lovely time and even splurged on a Starbucks!! We thought it was time to go when Gpa started knocking on the exhibits to see what they were made of and Carson started telling on him. Carson and I picked up Sam and they wanted to head out to Mt. Tabor to play. I felt so lucky to have my camera handy for these shots of Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens. Breathtaking! I love to hear Portlanders tell their stories of where they were when Mt. St. Helens erupted. If you lived here then, you have a story.