Oregon Sand Dunes

We went and camped at a campground near the Oregon Sand dunes. After we got camp set up we headed down to the beach right near sunset. Although it was cold the kids headed right for the water. I just got my feet wet and took pictures instead.

Beach preview

More to come- but I couldn't wait to share.

Mt St Helens

We spent one day visiting Mt St Helens. That was one of the neatest things we did on vacation. Just the drive up was fascinating. In order to get to the National Monument, you drove through a great deal of logging areas first. I have read extensively about areas that are clear cut and then replanted but I hadn't ever seen it in person on that grand of a scale. It looked just like what it was, a large tree farm with that typical patchwork look of farmland. I understand the need but it was still kind of sad to see. So very unnatural looking.

Below are some pictures of the valley near Mt St Helens on the west side. When St Helens erupted the flow of ash and debris filled this valley. The area used to be a fairly dense forest with campgrounds etc. The visitors center had fascinating stories of those who managed to escape and those who didn't. You can still see grey ash and such clogging the river and dead trees everywhere. There also is a lot of new growth and life.

The pictures below are from the visitors center. Around St Helens it is still pretty desolate. My understanding is before the eruption over 20 years ago the areas around St Helens looked a bit like the area around Mt Rainier. Which is very lush and green. If you look real closely you can see steam coming from the center of St Helens.

The trees burned in place. In this area there are dead trees everywhere and you can tell which direction the blast went from the direction all of the trees were felled.






(you might need to click on this one to see it larger to be able to see but the whole mountain side is covered by dead trees felled from the eruption)

We then went to Crystal Lake near St Helens. It is a new lake that did not exist before the eruption. The lay of the land changed rather dramatically.

More Vacation

When we were done in Seattle, we rode the ferry back across to where we parked our car. Below is a picture of one of the ferries. It holds cars in the bottom and places for people in the top. On the way back we sat at the very top of the ferry. Beautiful views.

This is a view of Mt Rainier from the ferry.

This is the ferry we were riding back and the dock where we unloaded. If you look closely you can see the walkway we exited on and the green below is where the cars exited

Here is it after the ferry left.

We were all hungry by this time. Near the ferry dock was a small park. It had these great fountains that are supposed to be reminiscent of whales and the smokestack on ships. The kids played while the dads went to get dinner to bring back to eat at the tables. Why can't we have these kind of cool public parks and water fountains here? I swear there were cool public water fountains the kids could play in everywhere we went in Washington. It was so cool. I guess to many people have their own pools here.

Happy Anniversary to me!

Yesterday was our anniversary and Mike brought me the most beautiful flowers. The pictures don't do them justice. I just wish I had been able to take the floral design class at BYU that I wanted to. I am not good at arranging flowers. Oh and we went out to dinner too!