Mt St Helens Anniversary

Today is May 18, 2010; and that marks the 30th Anniversary of the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in Washington. It erupted Sunday, May 18, 1980 at 8:32 AM.

I consider this one of my more favorite places to go. One of the reasons is that there is a lot to do around the mountain. I also really like seeing how it changes over the years. When it blew, it left the landscape destroyed. But each time I go back more has changed.

Here is a picture of Mt. St. Helens before, during, and after the eruption:

These are some comparisons of how it has changed. The photos on the left are taken by my Dad in 1984; the photos on the right are mine from a trip in 2007 of virtually the same thing.

And some other photos I like:

It was also neat when the mountain started erupting again back in 2004 and 2005

Happy Anniversary, Mount St. Helens!

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You’ll Find us at Falls Creek Falls

On Friday, we decided to go on a little hike. I wanted to go to a waterfall that my brother, Steen, had wanted to take me to, but we never got the chance. So Ruth and I went.

It goes by the imaginative name of Falls Creek Falls. This waterfall is amazing. It is made up of 3 parts and an additional 4th part just downstream. All in all it is about 250 ft tall. Because of how it is situated you can only see a few parts of it at a time.

Here I am at the spot where you can see the top section.

When you get right up to it you can only see the 2nd…

and 3rd tiers.

It was not only impressive, but also very grand. Here I am, the small dot in the bottom left corner, after I climbed up to the other ledge.

The hike was also very nice. It winds its way next to Falls Creek and passes some smaller tributaries, including a very nice cascade with lots of moss on the rocks.

 

There were also lots of flowers out. Some of the ones we liked best were these little mountain orchids:

So, we had a great time and were sufficiently impressed by Falls Creek and its falls.

Happy Birthday, Megan!

Ruth and I wanted to make a special post for Megan.                         She turned 5 today. So…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY,

MEGAN!

 

We miss you and hope you have a good day today.

Happy Mother’s Day!

We just wanted to say thank you to our moms for all that they do for us.

For being strong,

for the loads they bear…

For the smiles they give us, 

and for standing by us.

 

And for the other awesome moms we know; we love you guys! Thanks for being good mommies :-)

   

 

Happy Mother’s Day!

Spring is in the Air

This week we went to the Hulda Klager Lilac Gardens in Woodland, WA. It was a very good day and the flowers were very nice.

Now a historical site, the gardens were started in 1905. The grounds include an old farm house and other farm buildings.

Hulda Klager began hybridizing lilacs in 1905 and created over 200 varieties in her lifetime. Currently the gardens have over 90 varieties of lilac to enjoy. Here are some beautiful variants:

The Lilac gardens are wonderful and it was fun to wander around and smell the flowers. There are also lots of other flowers including some large rhododendrons.

Just down the road is the Holland American Bulb Farms, which specialize in tulips:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was also really cool. They have dozens of varieties to see. I was amazed at how many colors there are. Here are just some of the tulip types:

   

Overall, it was a great day. We will leave you with this picture of Ruth and her giant clogs…

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