Vacation, Day 2 Mt. St. Helens

We traveled early Monday morning to Mt.  St. Helens to learn about the 1980 eruption and to see the crater left from the eruptions. The Johnston Ridge observatory had great interactive exhibits

 about the volcano and a movie about the volcano and the rebirth of life in the area. The sad part about this leg of the trip was that the wild fires in Washington and Oregon caused the crater to be virtually unviewable. There was a dense haze in front of everything. We could see a little bit not very much. 

We left Mt. St. Helens and headed to our cabin in Oregon. 

Vacation week Day 1

We planned a week long road trip for this week around Paul's mom's visit. 

Day 1 was a trip to Mt. Ranier. We can see Ranier most days from

Seattle but it is off in the distance. We visited last summer and hiked a portion of the skyline trail but it was cloudy and the mountain wasn't visible even from the base. 

This year's trip was dramatically different and the views were amazing. 

We parked and had a picnic lunch. 

We didn't have a plan but we just wanted to stroll and see where we ended up. A short trail led us to a waterfall that had a wonderful view of Ranier in the back. 

The mountain is so big it's hard to understand. You can see people on the bridge over the falls. 

Ranier is a volcano that stands at 14,000 ft. high. People climb the mountain every year and usually train and spend an overnight or two to reach the top. It is truly a sight to see. 

After we left the falls we decided to keep hiking to see if we could make it to a look out point. The trail kept going and going and we kept trucking straight uphill. Ina was in charge of whether to keep going or not and as long as she said yes we kept going!

Along the way we saw a bunch of marmots which are similar to groundhogs  but furrier and a bunch of chipmunks. There is on here in the picture on the rock. 

We made it to a trail that was supposed to take us to Panorama point and it was closed due to ice!!

Noah and I were leading so we kept going to a different trail that took us much higher than we expected. Along this new trail we saw a spot that snow and a part of the glacier were accessible. We were really excited to touch it! 

At this point we studied our maps some more and figured out that we were at 7,500 ft--over half way up the mountain. There were teams around us practicing ice rescues and Noah was enthralled. He wanted to learn how to ice climb. 

We finally reached Panorama point and began the descent back down the mountain as the sun began to set. 

On the way back down we saw some black tailed deer sitting peacefully in the meadow.

The sunset continued to follow us down the mountain until we reached the visitor's center. At the base there were two black bear cubs along the trail climbing trees. We were far enough away that we weren't in danger. 

When I look at the mountain now I feel differently about it. I can't believe we were so high up there! Paul and I even talked about researching what it would be like to make it to the top!

After we left the park we drive two more hours to Kelso, WA and spent the night. 

Vacation Day 4 Lemolo Lake

We had planned to go to Crater lake several days but several roads to get there were closed and the drive around would take 3 hours. We made a great choice to stay at the lake for the day. 

Paul and Noah jumped in early into the freezing water while we hung out at the dock. 

We decided to rent a motor boat, buy some inner tubes and play in the water for the day. We packed a lunch and explored the lake. To be out in the sun on the water and not driving was good for all of us. 

We let the kids practice driving the boat, we stopped at several points and jumped in, and we pulled the kids on the tubes behind us. It was a fabulous time. We pulled over at a beach and the kids were digging and playing happily until we heard a scream around the world. Noah said he cut his foot on a rock in the water and he was hysterical. We loaded the boat back up and headed to the cabin. After some ice cream and band aids we thought all was well, but after hours of waiting the cut was still bleeding through the band aids and not clotting. At about 9 pm Paul and Noah headed to the nearest hospital--almost 2 hours away.  The cut was exactly where his big toe met the pads on his instep. They gave him 4 stitches and Paul said he scared everyone in the hospital with his screams while they gave him a novicaine shot. 

At about 2 AM Paul and Noah finally returned home. Poor Noah was such a trooper. 

Vacation, Day 3 Lemolo Lake

We scheduled 3 days at Lemolo Lake Resort because it was close to Crater Lake. As we were driving from Mt. St. Helens we were aware of how bad the fires were. There were many roads closed and fires in the woods alongside our path. 

We arrived at Lemolo Lake in the early evening and just settled in. We were all tired from several days of driving. 

Vacation, Day 2 Mt. St. Helens

We traveled early Monday morning to Mt.  St. Helens to learn about the 1980 eruption and to see the crater left from the eruptions. The Johnston Ridge observatory had great interactive exhibits

 about the volcano and a movie about the volcano and the rebirth of life in the area. The sad part about this leg of the trip was that the wild fires in Washington and Oregon caused the crater to be virtually unviewable. There was a dense haze in front of everything. We could see a little bit not very much. 

We left Mt. St. Helens and headed to our cabin in Oregon. 

Lake Quinault

In mid July our neighbors invited us to join them camping for a few days at Lake Quinault on the Olympic Peninsula. We were planning on camping with PA friends so we joined the two together. 

Lake Quinault is a beautiful place with a rustic lodge that President Roosevelt had lunch at when he signed papers to make the Olympic Peninsula federal forest land. The common elk found there is thus named the Rosevelt Elk. 

The campsites are on a lake surrounded by forest. The kids could easily swim and play in the lake. 

The kids Olivia and I went on a hike to see the worlds largest Spruce tree which was impressive. If you look at the kids next to the roots you can get a sense for its size. 

We found Sasquatch. 

After three days our friends Jen and Ben who we have known since our kids were born joined us. It was great to see the kids reconnect and just nice to be with old friends. 

We had our first day of rain this summer while we were camping but we were protected by a public pavilion next to our site. 

Our first group hiking outing was to the worlds largest cedar tree.  I thought it was way cooler than the spruce!

We are inside!!! It was too big to grasp. 

We went for a little drive to find a view hike but we never found the trail. On the way we found some tracks and poo!

We never found the trail but the view was great anyway!

Instead we drove to an interpretative temperate rainforest trail. There were signs throughout explaining the vegetation however we took

It as a chance to do interpretative dance in a rainforest trail. Paul and Ben did an excellent job. 

I am always amazed by the temperate rainforest. It's like a sleepy novel with mystical life that lures me in every time. The ferns and the moss and the canopies are gorgeous. After all of the forest sillies everyone needed some smores so we headed back to camp.