Mt. St. Helen's

Thirty five years ago Mt. St. Helen's erupted. Fifty seven people were killed, 22 bridges destroyed, 20 homes gone and the complexion of the mountain and the surrounding countryside changed forever. Lakes were formed by the damming of local rivers, miles of a thick pine forest were gone in seconds,  and a 12 mile cloud of ash looked like snow as it settled on Vancouver, Washington. The eruption started as rumblings and then the largest landslide in recorded history came down the north side of the mountain and into the west side of the valley. The dirty and rock moved down the face of the mountain at 150 miles per hour. A few seconds later, the lava cone exploded sending ash and pumice from inside the mountain at speeds of 300 miles per hour, overtaking the landslide, burying trees, animal life, rivers and everything in it's way...sometimes 150 feet deep.

Since then private lands have been reforested, but public lands were left to evolve on their own. Thirty five years later, one sees occasional pine trees, a smattering of alder trees, small shrubs and small animal life including rodents, chipmunks and squirrels. Knowing the history of this event, you can see that much of the land is still a wasteland. You don't see lava flows since that was not the nature of this volcano, however you can see lava flows from a previous eruption 7,000 years ago at Mt. St. Helen's.

Unfortunately, on the day we were at the national monument, it was covered by smoke from wild fires in Central and Eastern Washington. The visibility was so poor that we were only able to see an outline of the mountain from 5 miles away. Nature was still changing the face of the landscape.

Old lava river

regrowth on public lands

Mt. St. Helen's from 5 miles away

photos of before and after

Oregon Coast

I have fallen in love with the Oregon Coast. It is rocky, wild, untamed and untouched. We drove up to coast on Highway 101 until we reached Lincoln City. At that point we turned inland and headed towards Mt. St. Helen's in Washington. When you drive down the street you see restaurants selling salmon and clam chowder. Produce stores selling blueberries, tomatoes and other vegetables are frequent. The mountains come down to meet the ocean and even then, extend into the ocean with rocky promontories and "haystacks." Hidden between these rocky beaches are sandy ones where people swim, dig for clams and surf. There are even 40 miles of sand dunes.

At one spot we got out of the car and heard hundreds, possibly thousands of seals and sea lions sunning themselves on several islands right off the coast. They were laying all over each other, and frolicking in the water. The sound was amazing to this east coast girl.

Before we drove to the coast we spent several days in Ashland, Oregon, home of the Oregon Shakespeare festival. We met my friend, Debbie Schwartzman's sister, Paula, and her husband, Shel,  for dinner at one of the little restaurants. Ashland is an interesting city. It is small (approx. 20, 000 people) high-brow and sophisticated. You see young people with backpacks and dreads walking around town. Older people visit the city to attend one of @6 plays that are performed during an 8  month season. We saw a a good production of Guys and Dolls. Obviously, not all the plays are Shakespearean. In addition to the plays, there are scheduled "chats" with the actors, tours backstage, and free concerts, among others occurring throughout the day.

The town is located in a valley surrounded by mountains. The first day I was there I saw a deer quietly walking in one of the local parks. He approached a person who was sitting on a bench, reading. This man seemed oblivious to the deer. It was all so natural. The largest park in town, Lithia Park, is a beautifully landscaped park located right next to the town square. Ashland is only a few miles from Medford, so you get a small town feeling next to a larger city.

We plan to return to Oregon after we visit Washington to check out the towns of Bend and Eugene as possible places to live. The populace of the state seems politically and socially liberal, well educated, and interested in ecology and the outdoors. There are probably many aging hippies, a perfect place for us.

Crater Lake

Crater Lake, in SW Oregon, must be one of the most amazing National Parks. It was formed by the collapse of 12,000 foot Lake Miazma when it erupted 7,700 years ago. Today, it is a Caldera which is filled with rain water and snow melt. It has no river access. It is almost 2,000 feet deep in places which makes it the deepest lake in the world. The waters are crystal clean and bright blue. It is known as one of the clearest and cleanest lakes.

Within the lake is a small volcano which erupted after the lake was formed and a small island seen from only a few viewpoints around the lake. The surrounding countryside is mountainous, pine covered, and filled with many small creeks and waterfalls.

crater lake

island within the lake

crater lake

pinnacles formed by erosion of volcanic rock

warm springs falls

watson falls

toketee falls

Lassen Volcanic National Park

I had never heard of Lassen Volcanic Park, but it is quite beautiful. Located in Northern California in the most southern part of the Cascade Mountains, it consists of many dormant and at least one active volcano and thermal features such as fumuroles, mud pots, and hot spring. Although little known, it is like a small Yellowstone.

The Lassen volcano last erupted in 1915. Photos of the explosion were taken by a man standing 6 miles away using a camera that took plates of film. After the eruption, local citizens petitioned to make it a national park and so it became the 4th of its kind in the US.

I took a 3 mile hike along a mountain ridge and into the thermal areas.

pond in thermal area

hot spring

extinct volcano

Mud pot

hot spring

Lake Helen

Thermal creek

Creek in park

Napa and Sonoma

Stephen did not want to see San Francisco, a city we had seen before, and so we drove north of the city into wine country. The Napa valley is very expensive. One pays at least $35 for a wine tasting and often over $100 for a bottle of wine. We did stop at Chateaux Montalena featured in the movie Bottle Shock. Be sure to watch it if you haven't seen it before; it is very cute.

The next day we ventured a little farther to the Sonoma Valley. There, wine tastings are cheaper so we indulged several times and bought more wine to store under our RV bed!

With over 400 wineries in Napa and over 200 in Sonoma we could have stayed there all year!

Monterey, Carmel, 17 mile drive, Big Sur, The Pinnacles National Park

I was really looking forward to see this area south of San Francisco. We spent one week camping in the Salinas Valley and driving to the coast to see these famous landmarks. They didn't disappoint.

The Salinas Valley is called the Salad Bowl of the US. Miles and miles of the valley are cultivated with vegetables and strawberries. We saw all types of lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, and among many others, artichokes. The artichokes are the most fascinating. From the road they look like thistles with large pods in the center. The pods become the artichokes. If they are not harvested they blossom into purple flowers. The fields surround homes, buildings and climb up the slopes of the nearby mountains. The town we stayed in was primarily Mexican. I was told that they are the farm workers who work these huge farms. When we went into town all the stores and restaurants signs were first in Spanish, and then English.

About an hours drive into the mountains we visited Pinnacles National Park. It is the newest National Park in the US. We climbed through some Talis Caves formed by volcanic rocks.

When you drive to the coast you are in another world. The climate drops about 20 degrees. Often the rocky coast is covered in fog. The 17 mile drive which connects Monterey with Carmel has magnificent mansions owned by the millionaires that Bernie Sanders refers to. We are the other 90% staring and gawking at these homes. Us and them. Of course, the amazing gulf courses, including Pebble Beach are right along the ocean along with the mansions and beautiful cypress trees.

The drive from Carmel to Big Sur is built right into the ocean cliffs. It can  unnerve you when you look down at the rocks, beaches and ocean below. Big Sur is not a town, but a place. There is not much there except for a lighthouse and a few stores.

Carmel is also quite impressive. I loved the gorgeous, but small bungalows. Each one is different and beautifully landscaped. The little town has some nice restaurants and expensive tourist shops. I think that I could easily live there for a while if I had the money.

While visiting Monterey we saw Fisherman's Wharf, made famous by John Steinbeck. The canneries are gone and in their place are more tourist shops. We stopped at Ghirahdelli's for ice cream and then visited the Monterey Aquarium which is built into the wharf along the water's edge.

Salinas Valley

Monterey Aquarium

Big Sur

17 mile drive

Cannery Row, Monterey

Big Sur Beach

17 mile drive

Restaurant in Carmel where we celebrated our anniversary

Adorable Sea Otter in Aquarium

Yosemite

We took a one day trip to Yosemite National Park. The weather this summer (and for several years previous) has been very dry and as a result, many of the waterfalls in Yosemite were dried up and non-functional. I think that this affected our appreciation of the park. There were many tourists, the park bathrooms were filthy, and there were only several sights where we could drive.

There are many hiking trails but we are unable to experience them unless they are easy. Stephen has two knee transplants and is unable to handle a strenuous hike. On top of that, we are both not very fit. I'm sure that a few good hikes would get us in better shape, but we are not willing to take the stress on our bodies to get there!

Upper and Lower Yosemite Falls

Half Dome

Yosemite Valley