Mount Saint Helens

Today we decided would be a perfect day to go to Mount Saint Helens!  So, we did.  We got up early and hit the road.

Listen, Mom. I want pancakes. Silver dollar pancakes, got it? Good.
We stopped at a place called Norma's Breakfast and Burgers, in Nisqually. It was very yummy.

Being goofy, it is his nature

Going up the mountain

Where we were going

Johnston Ridge.  There was snow! This was very fun!

Ready to tackle that Jr. Ranger badge!

Working hard on his badge. We had to attend a Ranger Talk. That was fun. Ranger Doug made it very interesting. Lon answered a lot of the questions, some of them he got right and the geology grad students did not.  Ranger Doug was very impressed with him.  The grad students not so much.

We watched the movie of the May 18, 1980 eruption. That brought back many memories for me. I remember that very well.  At the end of the movie, they opened up the curtain so you could see the mountain, but it was cloudy. One of the Rangers, ran back and forth in front of the windows with a large photograph of the mountain in sunshine.

This is not Ranger Doug, but he was also very impressed with Lon. He gave him his Jr. Ranger oath.

And a handshake

Good thing I brought quarters for the smashed penny machine.

SNOW. Playing in the snow is so much fun. Lon did not see snow this year. The mountain is still clouded over

Some of the blown down trees are still there, after 33 years

At a scenic overlook going back down from Johnston Ridge

Cold Water Lake Forest Learning Center. There was not much to it. They are remodeling it, lots of rooms were closed and there were not many exhibits

Beautiful

This was the exhibit and it was sort of creepy. They projected a face movie onto a black mannequin's face.  It would have looked much better had it been lined up properly.  She talked about the importance of staying on the trails.

Learning a little bit more about elk.  Jaw bones, skulls, vertebrae, a pelt, and hoof prints.

Lon wanted to play more in the snow, so we stopped at the last/first scenic overlook so he could play in the snow.

Another picture of Mt. St. Helens

Lon's snow creation

Just outside the boundaries of the National Volcanic Monument is another Forest Learning Center. This one is run by Wyherhauser. It was well done.

They had a helicopter to play in. The narrator inside the helicopter told the kids what the instruments were. The collective, what each of the pedals did, and that they were good co pilots.  Lon LOVED it Can you tell?

A discovery center where you could touch and feel rocks, pelts, wood. They had things to look at, bugs, hornets, scat, and footprints.

 Goofy Boys.
We all learned a lot about volcanoes, and Mt. St. Helens. The eruption, the vegetation, the wildlife and how they are learning so much from this event. How the land is recovering so much faster than they thought possible.  It was a very fun day.