Washington after Seattle
Hi again…this is blog entry #6 and day 40 of our trip. We will be away for Thanksgiving but plan to have a turkey dinner on Monday. I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving….
Tacoma - Museum of Glass -Kurt, Debbie, Ann, glass birds
Since my last entry we spent another lovely day with the Haggmans. They drove us to Tacoma where we went to the Glass Museum. Then we went back to
Port Townsend- house circa 1880
their house and shared a delicious meal with Kurt, Debbie, and 2 of their kids, Eric and Lindsey as well as Lindsey’s boyfriend Scott. Their daughter Angela lives with her husband in Vancouver so they weren’t able to be there.
From Seattle, we drove to the Olympic Peninsula in northwest Washington were we spent 3 nights in Sequim (pronounced Skwim) and 2 nights in Mora. While we were in Sequim, we visited Port Townshend a quaint Victorian style village built on the side of a mountain on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. We also drove up into the Olympic Mountains along Hurricane Ridge and the next day to Sol Duc Falls where we hiked along several trails.
The next 2 nights we camped in an RV resort near the town of Forks. Some of you may recognize this as the town where the Twilight Saga takes place. The
Forks is the inspiration for Twilights - it got exploited in the city
area has really embraced this phenomenon to attract tourists. We actually went to this area to see some of the Pacific beaches (Rialto and La Pushe) and
Olympic National Park - the largest tree that we saw - Sitka Spruce
BIG trees of the temperate rainforest. We hiked in The Hoh Rainforest, very unique ecology. Â Both were incredible. Check the photos to see what I mean.
On Friday (day 38) we drove for 6 hours in the rain along winding 2 lane roads to get to Mount St. Helens RV Park. It was an exhausting day especially for Bill….
Today we drove up to Mount St. Helens. I remember when it erupted in May 1980 but until today it was just another news story. It’s amazing to learn about the
All that we could see of Mt. St. Helens
force and damage it caused and to see how the area is coming back. Unfortunately, it was raining and the cloud cover was so thick we really couldn’t see the actual mountain. However, the Visitor’s Centers had good displays, photos and videos.
This evening we were invited to a pot luck supper with a group of RVers from Oregon. We had a lovely time with good food and interesting conversation.
Tomorrow the plan is to move on to Oregon and follow the Columbia River Gorge.
Will let you know about that in my next blog entry. TTYL
Ann/Mom/ MaeMae
Pot Luck Supper with the Beaver Travel Club
Mom sitting amongst the massive driftwood on Rialto Beach
Hi Ann and Bill,
It was such a pleasure to have you both as our guests at the Mt. St.Helens RV Park in Castle Rock, WA on Saturday evening. We all enjoyed your visit. Ann, I was sitting on your left at the table.
I was living near Hillsboro, OR on Sunday morning, May 18th, 1980 when Mt. St. Helens erupted. My family and I were in our car driving that morning when we saw the hube plumb of dark gray smoke rolling up into the sky to the North of our place. We turned on the news on the radio where they were broadcasting the news of the eruption. We drove down to Hwy. 30 along the Columbia River where we got a very good view of the eruption. Most of the ash blew off to the east; but there where a number of smaller eruptions at later dates when the prevailing winds blew the ash our direction. We received enough ash on everything that it made driving a car very difficult. If you met another car on the road, the ash rose up in a big cloud like a very thick fog, making it very difficult to see the road. The ash ruined our hay crop that year as well. However, the damage from the ash was far greater for everone living east of Mt. St. Helens. And, of course it was so sad to hear of the loss of life that occurred following the eruption in the blast zone closer to the mountain. I will remember the whole event the rest of my life, that’s for sure.
I am happy to have received a copy of this email from Penny Hendrickson. Thank you both for sharing.
My Husband Ron and I live in Columbia City, Oregon. We are the couple with whom Bill asked questions regarding the rock guard that we attached to our Jeep this morning before we left the RV park to travel home.
We again wish you a very enjoyable and safe trip as you make your way back home.
Marianne and Ron Adelman