MOUNT ST. HELENS NATIONAL VOLCANIC MONUMENT

Currently in Silver Creek WA (Low 50 Clouds and Sun possible Rain High 77) 

Yesterday we drove to Mt. St. Helens National Volcanic Monument and it blew us away :-)

From Wikipedia, "Mount St. Helens is most notorious for its catastrophic eruption on May 18, 1980. It is the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in the history of the United States. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles of highway were destroyed. A massive landslide triggered by an earthquake measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale caused an eruption that reduced the elevation of the mountain's summit from 9,677 ft to 8,365 ft, replacing it with a 1 mile wide horseshoe-shaped crater. We drove to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, part of the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument that was created to preserve the volcano and allow for its aftermath to be scientifically studied.

The observatory has a great film and a lot of exhibits. It was eerie in that some of the people interviewed for the videos showing outside of the film did not survive. A before and after photo is illuminating, this is posted near the observatory.

Here is our first glimpse as we drove in.

Further along the drive in.

A closeup showing the crater.

We like this one because Mount St. Helens and Mount Rainier are in the same photo, although you might have to click the photo to enlarge and look carefully on the left side of the photo.

Here we are with Mount St. Helens in the background.

The view from the observatory is incredible. What is really neat is that when the film ends they raise the curtains and from your seats you get this view.

There is a tree killed by the eruption.

A final look before we leave.

We really enjoyed this part of the trip but our day was not complete. We stopped and had a late lunch at Patty's Place at 19 Mile House. 

Always seems like everybody has great flowers around here. Liked the dead tree, no doubt from the eruption, used as a planter.

Known for their elk burgers and chicken and dumplings that is we ordered and they both were very good. Patty's offers river view dining and this was our view while enjoying our meal. 

Patty's is also know for cobbler so we had to try a couple of those; strawberry rhubard and mountain berry. Not really a cobbler like we know them from the midwest, this was a very good filling with a sugary biscuit on top. An excellent dessert but not cobbler in our minds.

By now it was getting to be a fairly long day so we headed back to the RV park to relax.

Till next time,

Bob and Jo