Explosions in the Sky

Last weekend we headed down to Portland for a music festival. There was one catch: I caught a cold or the flu or something that invaded my body trying to keep me from having fun! I spent most of my time between Tuesday and Sunday in bed on all kinds of cold medicine. I was able to make it up for a few hours at a time to see some of the bands we went to see. Sitting in the back corner with a cup of tea and a kleenex most of the time. I was cute…I’m sure.

On Sunday morning, I was feeling closer to normal than I had in many days and it was absolutely gorgeous out! Scott said we needed to “swing by” Mt. St. Helens since I had never been. What kind of person can call themself a Washington State Resident (of 8 years) and not have seen the National Monument?

mt st helens from johnson ridge

Well. She doesn’t disappoint. It’s incredible to be driving through a forest and turn a corner into total destruction.

spirit lake and the glacier covered tippy top of mt adams

There is a learning center at Johnson Ridge where they have some artifacts and stories of survivors as well as those who perished in the blast. These are actual seismograph machines monitoring the activity under the mountain. This will help predict future blasts (the latest small-ish blasts were in 2006).

earthquake!!!!

There are signs everywhere telling people to not feed the wildlife. While they are cute, they could bite, etc. I was sitting on the ledge soaking up the sun, waiting for Scott to come out of the learning center when this guy was flitting around the ledge.

chip the little chump

Then, out of nowhere, he just attacked! I was innocently snapping pictures and he came after me. As soon as this was taken I was on the run from a creature about 1/100 my size. 

chip the little chump on attack

Throughout the park, there are trails you can walk to see some of the remaining destruction. Everything was left as it was in 1980.

snapped at the base

For some reason, on this hike, I had an intense craving for Taco Cabana.

she must be from san antonio

Most of the soil surrounding Mt. St. Helens, is sterile due to the heat of the landslide (lava & gas got to temperatures of over 1300°). There are some areas of greenery and wild flowers, but nothing is particularly tall. Just underbrush, ground cover, and of course, the ever-freakin-present dandelion.

new growth amongst destruction

On the loop around from the learning center to the parking lot, there is a memorial to the 64 people who perished during the event of the blast and subsequent massive landslide. (The top 1300 feet of the mountain blew off, equalling about 235 square miles).

memorialized

As you walk around it’s so interesting to see remnants of life. The below trees confused us. The blast was 29 years ago. Could these trees have stunted their growth in the blast? Or have they just grown odd? What do you think?

confounding trees

This is my favorite shot. It’s hard to see the detail when it’s not a massive picture, but you can see the standing dead forest and the trees that were blown over by the 300 mph rock, land, and tree filled wind that blew in the blast. So powerful to see it.

left as it was found

A cute and happy Scott was very glad to get up to the monument.

cute scott

Not Camping: Suncadia Resort

This weekend we headed out to the Cascade mountains for Scott’s company retreat at Suncadia Lodge. It was absolutely beautiful and a fun weekend. I spent most of the day Saturday in the spa where they have 4 saltwater pools of various temperatures. It was so relaxing and just what I needed after some really hard workouts this week.

Scott was on a team that spent the last two months learning how to make cocktails “Cocktail style.” They performed at a company wide event on Saturday night, it was so cool! Here is him practicing a “stall” where he catches the bottle on the top of his hand. His knuckles have been quite bruised and my hardwood floors are quite dinged.

Saturday morning, we headed into Roslyn (the town where Northern Exposure was filmed) for a late breakfast and to check out the cute little town. Cute it is! There is really one main street with some pubs, a couple restaurants, and some gift shops.

If you remember the opening scenes in Northern Exposure, they have a moose in front of the wall with Roslyn Cafe painted on the brick. Well, I hope I’m not as big as a moose, but….

Some of the funky decor at the cafe:

Checking out some of the other buildings. Most of these are the original buildings from the early 1900s (sounds so young when you go back to my London post, no?)

And what would a “travel in Washington” post be without some mountains and the start of a sunset? Well, nothing. So – here it is. We were in a hurry to get to dinner, so I don’t give it justice. The views and grounds were simply stunning!