Mount St. Helens

We went for a short "drive through" and ended up spending two entire days. 

The first day we went to the Johnson Observatory directly across from the crater's north side.  You enter from the West from Castle Rock, Washington.  It's about sixty miles to the end of the road.  We spent the entire day seeing the two films, attending a ranger talk, viewing all in the museum, eating the lunch we had brought, and taking a hike. 

On the way back West we stopped at a view point, then stopped at a newly created lake that formed after the eruption, and then tried  to go to the The Mt. St. Helens Forest Learning Center,  a partnership between Weyerhaeuser Company, Washington State Department of Transportation and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, but it was closed. We then stopped at a place that had a lot on the history of Spirit Lake and of Harry Truman who owned a lodge there and refused to leave and was one of the 57 who perished the day of the eruption.  Our final sop was the Visitors Center almost back to Castle Rock but it had also closed.  But there is a great boardwalk behind it through a marsh with great views of the mountain.  The marsh is a great birding spot but not this time of year.

The next day we decided to move on the south side of the mountain.  The eruption was on the north side of St Helens so the south still has forests and looked more like your "typical" volcano shape.  The drive South is equally as far as the one on the north, and goes east out of Woodland, Washington. 

The Ape caves are a 3/4 mile lava formed ice caves, which you go into with your flashlights.  Inside the temperature is a constant 40 degrees.  The hike inside is really worth it.  Less than a mile away from the cave is a 2,000 lava flow over trees.  The spot where the trees grew are holes in the lava.  And where the trees fell lava moved around then leaving tunnels where the tree trunks once stood.  Again, you can crawl through these lava.tree trunks.  

We went up as far as we could to the south facing side of Mt St Helens.  The views were awesome. 

But............  that was not enough for us.  We decided to go further east and then north on a not so well maintained Forest Service road to Windy Ridge, the view from the northeast into the crater.  It is about a 1 1/2 hour  drive each way.  The road goes through the heart of the blast zone where millions of trees were blown down or where the dead trunks are just left standing. 

The road ends overlooking Spirit Lake and the crater.  There's a 300 step stair to the top of a mountain for a spectacular view of the lake and the crater.  Spirit Lake is still filled with downed trees from the eruption, now thirty years after the eruption took place.  

Needless to say we were still driving out of Mt St Helens at dark.  We stayed in Hood River, Oregon and ate and slept with views of the Columbia River.  We sat down for dinner well after 9pm.

We highly recommend you go to Mount St. Helens if you have not made the trip.  Maybe you will no take two days like we did but it is very worth the time.  

Our pictures from Mt St Helens can be found at the following link:   https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=glevpalmer&target=ALBUM&id=5645072565560172209&authkey=Gv1sRgCM3gqNPkk4eFTQ&feat=email


Last year the PBS show NOVA had an excellent show on Mount St Helens as it was the 30th anniversary since the eruption.  The show runs a bit under an hour and is well worth it.  The link to the show is:  http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/nature/mt-st-helens.html

Crater Lake

Sitting at the highest point around the lake at sunset was a thrill.  The dinner at the lodge was fantastic.  Enjoy the pictures at this link:  https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=glevpalmer&target=ALBUM&id=5644871770933022945&authkey=Gv1sRgCI3d3riphprwNw&feat=email

The Adventure School Store in Seattle

It's just down from Pike's Market in Pioneer Sq.  If you go to Seattle you must drop by.

Mom and Dad help out for a bit the other day.  There's always something crazy happening.  Art, classes, or entertainment.

Here's some pictures of the store:  https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=glevpalmer&target=ALBUM&id=5644545368038140001&authkey=Gv1sRgCOnx66_Mq_bkfw&feat=email

You can shop in the store by going to the following website:  http://www.theadventureschool.com/store/

Vashon Island (Puget Sound)

Took a ferry boat ride from Tacoma to Vashon and Murry Islands.  A great lunch outside on the water in a Mexican Resturant with great veggie options.  Returned via West Seattle.  Took a hike at Point Robinson Lighthouse.  Enjoy the pictures at the following link:
 https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=glevpalmer&target=ALBUM&id=5641673603361929633&authkey=Gv1sRgCPih3sSfwbeqkAE&feat=email

Japanese Garden Portland, Oregon

So beautiful.  Is suppose to be the most authenic outside of Japan. 

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=glevpalmer&target=ALBUM&id=5641193588504341905&authkey=Gv1sRgCNPi9YqCl9baCA&feat=email

It's happening - Mendocino here we come

OK - the house has not sold but a dear friend is renting our house on October 1 making our move to Irish Beach finally possible.  We have a six month listing and it expires mid-September. 

To Folsom

A great trip in Sacramento is to take LightRail to Folsom and then ride the bike trail home.  And if you get tired you can ride back as far as you want and then go over to Folsom Blvd to catch light rail the rest of the way home.  Of course you avid bike riders go all the way to Folsom and back on your bikes.

Today we rode our bikes to LightRail where we met our friend and took the train to the end of the line.  Went to the Sutter Street Grill for breakfast and rode our bikes back along Natomas Lake and onto the American River Parkway.  After about 15 miles (it was hotter today than the last few)  we cut back over to Light Rail for the rest of the way home.  We estimate the total ride was about twenty miles.

The Sutter Street Grill has some great biscuits.  The only issue today was that our order got lost so our bike ride started about a half hour later than we had planned.

Codfish Creek Falls - Auburn State Recreation Area

A great hike - beautiful waterfall and a wonderful swim in the North Fork of the American River after the hike.  The water was a perfect temperature.  Enjoy these pictures. 

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=glevpalmer&target=ALBUM&id=5638371389225283169&authkey=Gv1sRgCMSbuaTfyu-JiwE&feat=email

Gertrude Stein at the SFMOMA

A highly recommended exhibit at the SFMOMA and companion exhibit at the Jewish Contemporary Museum around the corner.  We learned more about the Alice B Token brownies.  The show will travel to Paris and onto New York after it leaves San Francisco in early September. 

A weekly trip

After going to the California State Fair and working two days at the Mendocino County booth, we picked up lots of brochures of interesting spots in California.  So we have decides on weekly mini-vacations to spots we have not seen (or at least have not seen in many years).  The first was the trip just shared to Bodie State Park.  We drove Highway 50 to Highway 89 through Markeeville and onto US 395.  We went to Bodie for two days so we really did the park justice. 

We spent the night at the Topez Lake Casino where we joined the club and got $10 in slot money.  We won $7, and with the coupon for breakfast got it for almost free.  We played almost three hours on their $10 and got free drinks while playing.  How could one go wrong?

We drove back via Mono Lake  and through Yosemite National Park

Bodie Historic State Park - Mono County, California

If you have not been there you should go (anytime but winter) .  And nearby in the fastastic Mono Lake.  Anything on US 395 is worth seeing.

For pictures of this adventure click on the following link:
https://picasaweb.google.com/glevpalmer/BodieStateHistoricPark?authkey=Gv1sRgCP_HpqeNu_WTuwE&feat=email#