25th Wedding Anniversary Trip - Part 4 (Final)

Mount St. Helens

After leaving the Olympic Peninsula we headed south to visit Mount St. Helens. We were there on May 21^st which was 29 years and 3 days after the mountain “blew its top.” We went to the Johnson Ridge Observatory which is about 5 miles from the crater. It is an amazing view from here and is an awesome sight to see and realize what an incredible amount of natural power was involved in removing about 1300 feet of the mountain top. We saw a movie about the eruption, listened to a ranger talk about recent volcanic activity (as recent as 2004) and went for a short hike over ground and snow. There are still flattened trees lying around and very little new growth on this ridge. The only volcanic “activity” we could see were a few steam vents on the dome in the middle of the crater (and only with the telephoto lens).

Us with Mount St. Helens in the background (about 5 miles away)

Flattened trees remain from the 1980 eruption

A few active steam vents on the lava dome

Seattle and Mt. Rainier

The day before we left Washington state we drove into downtown Seattle and visited Pikes Place market. There were a lot of artisans with very different items and some with more common items. There were also many fresh flower and several fresh fruit vendors. The most exciting vendors were those selling fresh seafood. Several of them put on a “show” when someone purchases seafood. They yell out the order and then a worker literally throws the whole fish (or whatever) to someone behind the counter who weighs it, wraps it, etc. They make a big deal of it and tourists (like us) hang out there to watch…with cameras ready. It was interesting. Overall there were too many people here for us, so we were happy to get back out of town.

Handmade knives made from stone and bone/antler

Fresh fruit vendor at Pike Place Market

(We got cherries, peaches and pears)

A fresh fish being tossed at one of the seafood vendors

After Pike Place we headed to Mt. Rainier which is south-east of Seattle. We wanted to do a little hiking near the mountain, but we got some bad information from the desk clerk at our motel. She said everything was open (after being closed for the winter) so we headed to a visitors center on the north-east side of the mountain. We discovered that the road to it was closed after driving past snow piled 10-12 feet high along the road. We then tried another visitor center on the south-east side and discovered it was closed also. At least we found a park person in an entrance booth and he told us how to get to the only visitor center that was open. It was on the south-west side of the mountain and there wasn’t enough time left in the day to get there. So in the end we literally drove all the way around the mountain. It was a nice drive, but a little frustrating. We learned our lesson…the hard way. Next time we will get official information.

Snow piled high along the road near Mt. Rainier

Looking up toward the summit of Mt. Rainier
(The road was closed soon after this point)

The west side of Mt. Rainier after driving around the mountain

Postlog

We were able to see many fascinating things and experience a lot of wonderful activities and explore numerous interesting areas on this trip. We were truly blessed by getting to see a lot of God’s creation in this part of the country. But the best part about the whole trip was that Dawn and I got to spend a lot of time together, talking, playing, holding hands, hiking, cooking, hugging, exploring, etc. It was so delightful to be together and not have any other worries. Hopefully we can do it again sooner than in another 25 years. Many times we wished the kids could be with us to see or experience something unique, but in the end this was a trip about the two of us. Yes, we were being selfish. Dawn, I love you so very much!

The kids were fine at home. Grandma (David’s mother) came to stay with the kids. Unfortunately Grandma broke her wrist while playing badminton with the kids (or “trying to play badminton” as Zachary said). Hannah got a crash course in being a parent…a trip to the ER…doctor appointments…pharmacy visits. Does everyone know what badminton is? It seems the ER workers did not know.?.?. After all of this Grandma and the kids still had a lot of fun playing inside games (Canasta, Crazy Bridge, Mancala, Sequence, and others). The kids even rigged up a cereal box on a card table so Grandma could lay her cards down without the others seeing them. This was a special time for Hannah, Zachary, Rebekah and Jesse to spend with Grandma. Thanks again Grandma!

Grandma with her cast

Three of the kids playing cards with Grandma

Thus ends the "short" summary of our 25th wedding anniversary trip to Washington State. I hope this wasn’t too long or too boring. I had to leave out so much of what we did, saw and experienced. If you want more details, just ask. Or if you want to see more photos, let me know…I only took 4,518 of them. : )