Oregon and Washington

Day 1

We got started on the road about 5:30 a.m. 700 miles and 11 hours later we found ourselves in Hood River for the night. The drive was very pleasant ranging from 45-75 degrees and raining in a few places.

We had a great view of Mt. Hood from our room. (This is a picture of Mt. St. Helens, not Hood). We settled in after eating a spinach salad and a slice of gourmet pizza.

Day 2

We started our day early after sleeping 9 1/2 hours. We drove along the Historic Columbia River Scenic Highway. We could not believe the size of the Columbia River. It is as big as a lake in many places. There were many wind surfers and para surfers on the river. It was amazing how fast they were gliding along the surface of the river.

As we were driving along the Scenic Highway, we came across four spectacular waterfalls. We stopped at each to take pictures and to hike up to the bridge at Mutnomah Falls which is the second highest year-round waterfall in the U.S. Patty's the one standing on the bridge.

We then headed for Mount St. Helens. We are enjoying our trusty GPS to guide us. We viewed the movie in the visitors’ center and then had lunch on the veranda of the Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center where we had spectacular views of the mountain. As we got closer and closer we were amazed that we could even see the steam coming out of the newly formed dome. We expected to see major desolation and destruction. However, they have replanted most of the Toutle Valley at a cost of 9 million dollars. They say that in about a year they will be able to start making money back from logging. We met a couple from the Netherlands that have visited the U.S. a number of times. She took our picture for us.

We are staying in a little cabin on Silver Lake for the next two nights while we explore the area around Mt. St. Helens.

Day 3

Today we drove to see the other side of Mt. St. Helens. They had part of the road blocked which was disappointing. Patty had read they close it during winter. Who would have thought that meant June? So instead we took a couple of hikes. Which was probably one too many for Patty. On one of our jaunts we saw large holes where 2000 years ago a lava flow burned the trees and the lava hardened and a mold was cast in stone of the tree trunks. I crawled down inside of one. There was a crawl space you could crawl into and then crawl along for about twenty feet or so. The thought of it really freaked me out.

The highlight of the day was going into a lava tube 3/4ths of a mile long. We were there early so we were all alone. It was pretty treacherous in places for Patty. We had two flashlights each, but could barely see. I ventured on alone for a ways. That was an experience as I was feeling emotions I had never felt before. It was scary but I felt brave venturing on alone. This cave was also created 2000 years ago---a mere moment in geologic time. The cave is called Ape Cave. We were amazed at how well the flashes on our cameras actually showed us in the totally dark cave.

The weather is perfect!