Our ferry docked in Bellingham, Washington, and this was the end of the ride for us. We drove our car off the ferry into the mayhem that is Seattle area traffic. Gary the Elephant was pretty excited to be back behind the wheel. Our cars are older, which means they don't have the fancy technology that newer cars have. We love listening to audio books so we had to get creative. Husband's genius solution involved attaching an MP3 player to a bluetooth speaker. It worked perfectly. We listened to Education: A Memoir by Tara Westover (side note: Very interesting, but crazy book. We kept looking at each other saying "This is crazy.") The book held our attention and we often couldn't wait to get back on the road so we could listen it.
Our first stop was to visit some old friends. We spent the afternoon and evening catching up and making plans for a future summer trip to their family lake house (H and I if you are reading this, we haven't forgotten the offer. Don't be surprised if we show up with our bathing suits one day). We had so much to catch up on that I forgot to take pictures.
From there, we headed to Mount St. Helens. This stop is out of the way, a bit of a drive off of the main highway, but it is definitely worth it. It's not every day you get to visit the site of a volcanic eruption. There is a great Visitor's Center that tells of the events leading up the eruption and also discusses the aftermath. There is a viewing platform that gives you great views of Mount St. Helens. The drive up to the Visitor's Centre was beautiful and you can get some great views of the mountain along the way. As we drove up, we came across this valley that was covered in fog. I have never seen fog as thick as this fog. It was beautiful and slightly spooky.
Because of the fog, I was afraid we wouldn't get a good view of the mountain. The fog was isolated to that one area and as we got closer to the top of road, the sun shone brightly giving us perfect, clear weather. The landscape close to the mountain was surprisingly barren. I guess an area covered in volcanic ash makes it difficult for things to grow. Everywhere you looked you could see trees that had been destroyed by the blast. It was amazing to see the horseshoe shape that was left after the blast removed 1000 feet off the top of the mountain.
Beautiful peek at Mount Adams in the background.
Just as we were about to leave, we spotted something moving in the distance. We were surprised to see a mountain goat family hanging out on the rocks below. The babies were so cute. I wanted to take one home but Husband said we didn't have room.
If you are ever near Mount St. Helens, and by near I mean anywhere within a couple of hours of it, you should plan to visit. You will get the opportunity to experience a unique part of American history. There is a small charge to tour the visitor's center and go out on the viewing platform but trust me when I say you won't regret the time or price.
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