Mt Saint Helens thru Washington

June 18 - , 2009

Leaving Portland, we followed the advice of Suzy and ignored the coastal highway through Washington. Instead, we followed the highway to Mount St. Helens, wanting to see the sight of the 1980 volcanic eruption which both Liz and Remy remembered so vividly from their respective youths. Chances are that we both have some St Helens ash somewhere in our makeup that was drawing us back there.

We bee-lined for the Johnson Ridge interpretive centre, which faces across the crater. We learned many interesting things about the eruption, like the fact that it was a horizontal blast out the side of the mountain after a major avalanche had weakened it, and that 56 people died as a result of the explosion. The blast zone, which toppled trees and tossed motor vehicles, extended for 17 miles away from the explosion. We camped at a campground just outside the blast zone and left the next day, before the mountain, which constantly pushes up a cinder cone inside the crater, could explode again!

We bombed up the I5, not Remy's favourite kind of driving, and hung a left at Olympia. We did a short educational tour of the capitol building, which is a truly remarkable piece of architecture for its time. The grounds around it were laid out by the same person who designed Central Park in NYC! The building itself apparently has one of the largest freestanding domed roofs of any building on the world. Not bad for such a dinky state.

We drove up the west side of Puget Sound and deposited ourselves in a state campground about four miles out of Port Townsend. The weather continued to be wet and cloudy, which is not a fun way to camp. The boys, who had talked the parents onto purchasing some fireworks on one of the many reserves that we had driven through, attracted the attention of the park ranger who had to come over and tell them to knock off the fun stuff. During a walk that evening to the beach, the wind picked up as the sun came out. Liz bet Bowen that he would not skinny dip in the frigid waters for $6, knowing full well that he cannot refuse any excuse to get naked in a public place. The tough little beggar did it, completely immersing himself and collecting on the bet. An otter watched and witnessed the event. Hollis talked a good game about doing the same thing, but never got around to it.

The following day, we went into Port Townsend to check out the farmers market and while there, discovered a campground right at the marina! It is next door to a skateboard park- how much more perfect could it be? We returned to the state campground and packed up our stuff, settling in for two nights at the marina. Father's Day was approaching, and a more perfect setting could not have been found for the father of this family.

The weather started cooperating as well, which allowed Remy and Liz to enjoy a wonderful lunch outside, over the water, while the boys hung out with their new friend, Zeon (?), catching beach crabs and setting off bottle rockets under the supposed supervision of his adult cousin. Again, near-perfect fun for everyone.

Like all good things, the visit in Port Townsend came to an end, as we have, for one of the very few times over the last six months, a deadline to meet in BC. We took the ferry across the bay and made a short stop in Anacortes- after PT, we were not overly impressed with this working-class town. We stopped off for a final Trader Joe's run in Bellingham, filled up on cheap American gas, and proceeded to the border. Somehow, Remy managed to miss the turn off to the duty free shop, which upset Liz terribly. We were grilled by the CBSA guard for all of about 90 seconds concerning our activities of the past several months, then waved over the border and back into the country of our birth.

Keep your eye out for one final blog. We'll gather our perspectives of the trip overall and let you know about  our transition back home to Calgary.

 

-Remy