Mount Rainier National Park

We took this drive last Monday and were rewarded with the beautiful views that follow:

Road as we drove through dense forest.  This is about the only sun we saw.

The road took us past some spectacular scenery.  This is a deep canyon with river.

And TA DA!!!!  Here's Mount Rainier!   Here he is!  Isn't he spectacular!

We took this picture at the Visitor Center located on the base of the mountain.  He sure wanted to show off for us.

Here he is again.  We were so happy we got to see him!

See him???   There he is!

And here we have him reflected in the lake!!

Sign in the Visitor Center -- best picture we got of him!

Visitor Center -- at least they had a good movie and restrooms.

We happened to see a fox crossing the road.  We caught this picture just as he was about to dissapear over the snow bank.

We saw some really pretty waterfalls when we were driving out.  We entered the park at the east enterance and went out the south entrance.

Waterfall by the side of the road.

So.....even though Mount Rainier didn't want to come out and play while we were there, we had a really fun day anyway.  Saw some spectacular vistas, waterfalls and lush forest.  Saw deer and two foxes and many, many different birds.  And...we only got rained on a little.

MOUNT ST. HELENS

We took a day trip up to see Mount St. Helens and all the trouble she caused.  It started out a cloudy day but we did manage to get a few pictures of the old girl. 

Visitor Center where we started our several hour drive

Beautiful rhododendrens all over the place.  This was in front of the lower visitor center.

We saw a very interesting movie here and then started driving to the viewpoints and the upper visitor center.  We were in the snow some of the time.

The clouds cleared enough that we could get some pictures of the mountain.  This showes the side of the crater that collapsed and the sparce vegitation in the forground shows the destruction.  She eruped on May 16, 1980.  This many years later the vegitation is still sparce except where it has been replanted.  It was amazing to look out over this valley and see the destruction.  It was a lush forest with lakes and rivers before she blew.

Another view.  Before the eruption, the mountain went on up to a well rounded dome, as you can see if you look close at the picture in the upper right hand part of the sign.  Destruction everywhere.

This is a huge log by the parking lot.  You can see how the bark was blown off the side of the tree when the blast hit it and knocked it down.

Same huge log where you can see how the it was charred by the blast.  Can't see it but the mountains in the background below the snow line have dead logs all over their sides.  All the logs are pointed in the same direction...away for Mount St. Helens.

Fallen logs.

Whole mountain side devastated.

Everywhere we looked logs were down.  We were standing at a point that would have received the full force of the blast.

Not a good picture but this is a huge stump showing how the tree us just broken off like a matchstick.  Many such large trees were ripped from the ground, roots and all.  This picture was taken at the Johnston Ridge Visitor Center.  A geologist was camped on this ridge before the blast to monitor the activity of the mountain.  When it erupted, he was hit just seconds afterwards and he didn't stand a chance of escape.  The ridge is named after him.

We had a very intersting day driving through this area.  We saw two very good movies and learned a lot about the events of the eruption.  Anyone who hasn't seen it, should take the time to see it if they ever have the chance.

Pictures of the RV Park in Woodland

Here are some pictures of our RV Park -- Woodland Shores, in Woodland, WA.

View of Lewis River

The Lewis River flows along the back of the RV Park so I'll just put all the pictures in at once

 

 

Steps down to the river bank

Our spot and other views around the park follow

We are enjoying it here.  There are several RV's we can see have been here for quite a while and one man told us that he was here permanently.  He has a spot on the riverside.  We're not here much and when we are, we are either sleeping or getting ready to go to Keri's.

WOODLAND SHORES RV PARK - WOODLAND, WA

We made good time from Emigrant Spring to Woodland, WA.  We pulled into a station in Oregon to get fuel and it was so tight we have a bit of a problem getting to the pump and then a bit bigger problem getting out--a very sharp turn and lots of cars and people walking, etc.  We made it but I was holding my breath while Bob maneuvered the long beast out of the tight spot. Whew!  We learned to go to the pumps for the big rigs after that.

We are in a very pretty RV park next to the Lewis River.  I'll take some pictures for you later -- we have been busy.  As soon as we got here, we set up camp and headed to Keri's.

Keri's house with the Rhododendrens in bloom

We had a nice visit the first afteroon and a very good meal with the family then came home and fell into bed exhausted.  The next day we spent at Keri's.  On Saturday Keri and some of the kids came to the RV park to see our new home.  After they left, we did some shopping and returned to our RV for a relaxing evening.  Papa decided to go out and attach the cable TV to our unit and while he was doing it, he got his foot tangled in the cable and tripped and fell -- face first into the gravel.  He yelled for me to come and help him and I found him face down with blood running all over the gravel from his nose.  I hate to post this next picture.

I took this picture shortly after I got him cleaned up.  I took another picture of him

 with his eyes closed but I didn't want to post it because he

looked like he was laying on a slab in the morge.

He refused medical assistance and one of our neighbors came over and helped me get him to his feet and the people who run the park were very helpful.  He walked around the RV and climbed up the steps just fine.  Once the bleeding stopped, he insisted that he felt fine and we didn't have any problems afterwards.  His nose was so swollen he could hardly breath -- might have broken it again.  His forehead had scrapes but looked much better on Sunday.  His chin was very red but has since healed.  He must have bitten his lip when he hit because his top lip was swollen as well. He really did a number on his glasses--they've got to have new lenses made and the nose pieces smashed into his face very badly. Hope we can reuse the frames.  He was lucky he didn't land on the cement which was about 8 inches away.  He was also lucky he didn't break any teeth.  He didn't skin his elbows or knees--just fell flat on his face.  He says he feels fine except for feeling really stupid.

This is how he looked on Memorial Day.  Notice he is smiling.  He is able to breath much better now and his lip is about back to normal.  He has to wear his sunglasses to see and they help cover up some of the bruising.  His nose is by far the worst but it is looking much better, just really scabby.


On the brighter side:
We spent Memorial Day with Keri and family. We had cinnamon rolls and rice pudding for breakfast and some really, REALLY delicious BBQ ribs Jeff made for dinner and we also had a most excellent "frog eye" salad.

NEXT STOP -- EMIGRANT SPRING STATE PARK IN OREGON

We got to Emigrant Springs State Park just out of Meacham, Oregon (the "ch" in Meacham is pronounced the same as in Charity) early Tuesday afternoon.  We got off at the wrong exit and had to turn around -- lots of fun on a narrow road but we made it.  Found out we were going in the right direction after all and had to turn around again but this time we found a parking lot to do it in.  We got into our camp spot and then decided to drive back to Meacham for dinner as the locals recommended the only cafe in town as a good place to eat.  It happened to be "Taco Tuesday" and they only served Taco related things on that night.  We ordered the taco salad and then watched all the locals gather and soon the place was filled.  Everyone knew everyone else so we felt very out of place but they soon introduced themselves and made us feel welcome.  One good old boy walked in and asked, "Who drove all the way from Utah just to have a Taco".  It was no mystery who the foreigners were.

We loved this campground

One minute it was sunny and 30 seconds later it was snowing

It was also very cold

Our campsite

We could have stayed another day or so but we were anxious to get to Keri's so we packed up and moved on.

THE ADVENTURE FINALLY BEGINS!

We finally left home after many delays and last minute problems.  We hitched up and headed northwest on May 20 about 9:30 a.m.   We encountered some very rough roads around Brigham City and figure that is where we lost one of our wheel chocks which was riding in the bed of the truck.  We regretted not having Mike install the air bag shocks on the truck.  Hope it bounced off to the side of the freeway so no one else hit it.

Anyway, we made it to Mountain Home, Idaho without incident and found the Bruneau Dunes State Park.  We did not have phone service because we were too far off the beaten track.  We did have internet service...just no phones.  We really enjoyed our two days there.  It was a very nice campground, a little barren but otherwise very pleasant. 

Our Campsite at the Dunes

We went to the picnic area by a small lake

One of the many sand dunes in the area

Double dunes both with the knife edge where the sand has drifted

We took a drive out the the Bruneau Canyon Overlook.  About thirty miles from the campground on a dirt road for the last eight miles.  The view was spectacular and we could hear the roar of the rapids up on the top where we were standing.  Worth the drive out there.

We could hear these rapids

More Canyon in the opposite direction

Straight down to the river

We really did enjoy our stay in this area.  It was very hot the second day and the wind blew very hard during the night but gave us no rain.







WHO ARE MAX AND BIRDIE?

For those of you who don't already know, our Chevy Duramax Diesel is "Max".  Our RV is an Eagle (by Jayco) and will become our nest when we turn into snowbirds.  Therefore, we named her "Birdie".