Worst welcome sign ever, but what a state!  We camped in a classic KOA nestled between the freeway and a train track.  The whistles blew day and night but, oh well!

Thirty four years ago we were in Portland for a surprise baby shower friends had for us.  On Sunday, May 18th we got up and looked out the window of our friend’s house and saw an incredible mushroom cloud over Mt. t. Helens.  We saw first hand here the power and scariness of Mother Nature.  The mountain was shortened by about a third and the ash river which ran down the Toutle River from the summit destroyed everything in it’s path.  This was BIG news on TV and radio for weeks, especially the next weekend when she erupted again and they shoveled the ash off the streets with snow plows.  Way on the left side you can see Mt. Adams which is only about 35 miles from St. Helens.

Next up was Mt. Rainier.  Here is another perfect jewel in the infamous Ring of Fire which surrounds the Pacific Rim.  From the talks and movies we have watched in all these parks any of these volcanoes has the potential to erupt any time and soon.  But til they do we will enjoy seeing them in all their splendor and rugged beauty.

As in all these parks, Mr. Rainier has an old lodge which has been preserved from the time it was built.  Here at the Mt. Rainier Lodge we find the first purpose built building to turn the tourist eye toward scenes of beauty.  All the inside is done with local logs and is hand crafted.  There are dozens of lampshades in the rafter each having a different native flower found on the park.  Here is The Piano Man entertaining us at lunchtime.

Back to fantasy land.  Mark loves flying and has always wanted to be a pilot.  Here he got a sort of chance at the Forest Learning Center back at Mt. St. Helens!

Maybe because they have so much native material near to hand, the people of the Northwest are avid woodcarvers.  We were walking through our campground on the Cowlitz River and discovered this fox hiding in a hollow tree!  We have seen bears, eagles, and other animals hiding here and there where we’ve gone.

The new picture at the side of the blog is of  us in the middle of the Cowlitz River.  The empty bed shows how huge the river gets during runoff in the spring.  Stay tuned!  All the poor wifi will not keep me from continuing to post our adventures!