National Park Inn Ashford

... be.

We then drove to the southwestern side to the Paradise Visitor Center. From here we saw avalances of glacier snow and ice falling off the side of the mountain. I'll let the pictures from this day do all the talking...

... are multiple glaciers around the top of the mountain, Emmons, Winthrop and you can really see the detail but its still hard to fathom the damage if one of them were to lose a chunk. The rangers and the big signs around us kindly remind visitors we are standing on an active and unstable geological area. Time is starting to fly and I have more to shoot so I ...

... We estimate that transition occured about 2 miles down the trail. Then we came to grips with the reality that we were going to have to turn around and go back...back UP...UP 2 miles through the steep points and mud. We went from feeling like true outdoorsy people to feeling like survivalists. I clearly need to start working out again.


About half and hour later, Kip and I were both grateful to reach the intrepid rental Jeep and ...

Day 11 - Mt. St. Helen's NM - July 1, 2008 - Tuesday Drove to the west side of Mt. St. Helen's and stopped at the Johnston Ridge Observatory. Very interesting. The only volcano we've visited that has erupted recently and is still very active - except for Hawaii. The observatory was full of info about the ...

... dark, leafy and lush very near Mt. St. Helens. We got a little lost, the ride was crazy. The car had no reverse so when we went too far the driver executed a smooth 3 point rolling turn. We had just entered in when I saw the bus and got off. I saw cuddlebutt and davie, they said they had gotten off the bus the night after i left and so had everyone else except for audrey. I entered the bus and it was a strange ...

... become larger than she is, and, well, the moral of the story is about recycling, composting, being a good citizen, and taking care of one's environment. Slugs and snakes go shaking, flaking, shimmying, shimmering across the stage at the end of sticks wiggled by enthusiastic actors, and (hint, hint) keep your eye on that cocoon attached to the wall back there. Keeeeeep watching.

... still kicking ass at the house and Ingrid and baby Chloe had it too. I dearly wanted to see them and took my chances (so far I am not sick!). The morning before I left for Minneapolis, Ingrid and I stopped at the History of Flight Museum at Boeing Field in Seattle. It was quick, because I had to catch an afternoon flight, but it was very worthwhile ...

... California was supposed to be warm!). Had a late dinner then back to her aunt's house. Woke up really freakin' early (4:45am) to get ready for flight. Marcela took me to the airport and had us there by 5:30am. She came in with me and we had breakfast before I had to catch my flight. It's hard saying goodbye to such a cute, young woman. I made it into Portland about 9am and MO was waiting for me. I had to let her know I was coming to town as she was going to ...

... baggage. In the morning, we have a bunch of little things to do like pay Wamaitha's phone bill (can't do it over the internet tonight), pay rent, send off some mail, copy our passports, and pick up some granola bars. I would also like to stop for breakfast at Shari's. It will be a while before I get a giant American omelette again! We have to juggle the cars a bit. We will be parking them in the Alaska Airlines employee lot, and only ...

... at his mom's. I continued on to Seattle and stayed at my sister's. This was a fun 9 week race around the U.S. It was great to get to see some of my own country. There's some cool stuff out there. I especially liked the national parks. Missed quite a few states but that gives me reason to get out on the road again. In the end we drove over 16,000 miles! College is over, the post-college trip is done....guess that means I have to get a job. :(