Travel In The Near Abroad: Mt. St. Helens

(Source)

"Vancouver!  Vancouver!  This is it!"

- Last words of David Johnston, volunteer observer on 18 May 1980

If you are of a certain age and generation, you recognize the picture above without me having to say anything:  Mt. St. Helens on 18 May, 1980.

The eruption of Mt. St. Helens was the end of a process starting that previous March when small earthquakes indicated the volcano might be going active again.  On 18 May, an earthquake caused the north face of the mountain to weaken and slide, allowing the mountain to explode.  It was the first volcanic explosion in the U.S. since 1915 (Lassen Peak).

57 people died, including David Johnston (above), a volunteer observer for the USGS.  Lahars - volcanic mudslides - wreaked havoc on the local area, destroying Spirit Lake and reaching as far as the Columbia River 50 miles away.  Damage estimates were at $1.1 billion (1980 value).  The ash plume rose 80,000 feet into the air.  Forests and fish were devastated.  The explosion was 26 times as powerful as the Hiroshima atomic weapon.

(The Wikipedia article here has all the specifics.)

 

In 1982, Congress set aside 110,000 acres (445 square km) for the establishment of Mt. St. Helens Volcanic National Monument.  The National Monument abuts private forestland as well, giving a view of recovery both natural and man-directed.

The park is approximately one hour North of Vancouver, WA.  There are two roads into the park, highways 503 and 504.  We took 504, the more Northerly route.  There is a rather lovely visitors center on 504, which gives a history of the region.

The road drives through a recovering landscape.

A view of Mt. St. Helens and the beginning of the Toutle River.  The river course is not fully established yet.  What you see below as the river base is 40' higher than it was before the eruption.

It was a splendid day for wildflowers.

Currently you cannot drive all the way to Windy Ridge/Johnston Observatory due to a slide across the road. 

An interesting note is that life returned to the eruption zone far more quickly than anyone anticipated.

Travel In The Near Abroad: Multnomah Falls

Multnomah Falls is located in the Columbia Gorge in Oregon, located on Highway 84 between Troutdale and Hood River.  The falls are 620 feet high and are the tallest falls in Oregon.

The Multnomah Falls Lodge, originally built in 1925.

Geologists theorize that the Falls formed around 15,000 years ago.  The Falls were recorded in 1805 on the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

The Benson Footbridge was built in 1914 to allow access across the river below the Falls.

The Falls flow 1300 feet to Benson Lake.

There is a path that leads to the top of the Falls.  It is a total of 11 switchbacks; we made it to the base switchback 6 before turning back.  The path gives a great view of the Columbia Gorge.

Reservations are required from May to September for $2.00 through Recreation.gov.  Important travel tip:  DO NOT follow the phone made to the base of the lodge:  the parking is paid and not very much.   Stay on I-84 to the parking just off the freeway.  Far more convenient.

Travel In The Near Abroad: A Visit To New Home

 

Last week, as may have been readily apparent from my horribly formatted post yesterday (and for which I do apologize; the bug is apparently deeper than I could fix on my phone or my computer upon my return), I was traveling in the Near Abroad - in this case, to New Home.

The visit itself had been planned for some months, a two day seminar followed by a quick visit to Old Home.  But fate - in the form of a typhoon - intervened:  my Headmaster and my Sensei were unable to leave Japan.

I thought about canceling the trip but this development happened on Tuesday and I was scheduled to leave Wednesday.  Making a change in the program seemed like too much effort at that point.

All is well in New Home.

The house is pretty much as I remember it.  Poppy the Brave (seen above) was very happy to see me and we took several walks around our old neighborhood.  The weather there has been much wetter and cooler than average, which made walking almost pleasant.

I did end up going to a class at my old dojo.  It was nice to see my former fellow students and train under my former Sensei.  They are in a new facility now.  It was odd to realize this was the first location that I had never trained in since the dojo started.

I also had the opportunity to go by the rabbit shelter I had volunteered at for so long.  They are always happy to see me, and it is good to see how the shelter is doing.  It did make me miss volunteering there; I have not connected in the same way with the rabbit shelters locally.

The shelter, it seems, has yet to find a new TB, general handyman and changer of air filters extraordinaire.

Friday, I had the pleasure and luxury of actually playing tourist in a place I lived for many years

The day started with a lovely breakfast with Nighean Dhonn (Lemon Poppy-seed French toast, seen above).  We then picked up The Fiancé and headed into town, where we went to two museums, one which I had visited many years ago which The Fiancé had never visited and one which all three of us had never visited.  The weather was overcast and a bit muggy, but walkable.  We greatly enjoyed out time there.

We had an early dinner - BBQ (pictured below).  It has been a good long while - since the move, really - since I have had actual BBQ.  

I was up and out early Saturday morning.

The oddest feeling I felt over the course of my three days there was a profound sense of homesickness.

This might surprise my long time readers, seeing as how I often found myself at odds with some things (largely, the weather of course). And yet, I left with a feeling both that I missed large aspects of being there and yes, there is a world in which I could see us retiring back there.

Part of that is driven by the fact that I easily fit back into the people and activities I had done before, if only briefly.  Part of that is driven by the fact that likely that will be where Nighean Dhonn and The Fiancé make their long term home (and quite likely, the most likely to have grandchildren).  Part of it is, financially, it would make a lot of sense to be there with a paid off home and much lower taxes.  

But I wonder if part of it is the sale of The Ranch.

I think it is reasonable to say that I had fixated on being in a single place - The Ranch - so long that it had come to crowd out any other possibilities.  Now that the possibility is gone beyond reach, other possibilities present themselves.

The fact that I felt homesick a bit surprised me; if you remember from this past Christmas, I very much felt like a stranger in a house that was formerly mine (well, technically still is). What changed?  If nothing else, the fact that one door closed - for good.

It does leave the future open for some possibilities I had not anticipated.  It is good to know that one can still be pleasantly surprised, even in the midst of life transitions.