We have just returned from a whirlwind trip to see Mt St Helens and Mt Rainier. Despite my best efforts at careful planning we ran into a few problems, namely EVERYTHING WAS CLOSED. The roads were closed, the caves were closed, even the entrance to Mt Rainier was closed. We drove along walls of snow at least 15 feet tall on Mt St Helens and barely squeezed through 6 feet diameter felled logs across the road. It was a much harder winter than any of my travel planning books anticipated.
On Thursday we parked the car at the gate to Mt Rainier and started walking toward a trail called "Grove of the Patriarchs." After and hour and a half we decided to turn around and thankfully Tony found a beautiful trail to "Silver Falls." Watching the powerful water carve out the rocks and carry entire logs downstream in torrents of aquablue was absolutely thrilling. When we finally returned to the cars it was 8:00pm and the kids had hiked over 6 miles. I was so proud of them. We drove that night to Silver Lake, entrance to Mt St Helens.
Our "cozy" cabin at Silver Lake came with the worlds smallest sleeping accomodations, a sagging water-logged ceiling and the scratching of mice all night. Thankfully, Audrey and the girls stayed in the lodge and their room was much better. Cooper was sorry we couldn't stay to fish because the lake was famous for Bass. He did enjoy feeding dog food to the 3 foot carp that came to annoy the ducks at the dock. After a yummy breakfast of pigs in a blanket and strawberry whip cream french toast, we were on our way up to the visitors center at Mt St Helens. I was surprised at how many memories came back from when I was 8 years old and we walked out of church to a pitch dark sky and a soundless world. We learned so much about the destruction and power of the blast. Tony was fascinated with the survival stories. The weather was cloudy so we didn't see much of the mountain, until just before we left. The clouds parted like curtains and we got the best view for about 10 minutes. The ranger said it was the best shot they had had in three days. We felt like we'd had a little miracle, or at least a tender mercy.
On the way back down we stopped at a second visitors center, geared for young kids. Here we "flew a helicopter" over the mountain, measured our handprint against a bear's and got to touch the mangled wreck of a truck after the mud flows. We learned things like: eagle's nests can be 20 feet deep and 9 feet wide and weigh up to 2 tons--fascinating. We finished the afternoon with a beautiful hike through the "hummocks" or chunks of mountain that were blasted down the valley.
That night after a rather tasteless Mexican dinner we stayed at a blessedly rat-free Best Western with both a pool and breakfast buffet. Audrey, Amy, Callie, Natalie, Tony and I stayed up way too long talking and laughing and reminiscing. We felt so lucky to have them on the trip with us, not just because they were such great help with the kids and Audrey brought her famous chocolate cake, but because we love them so much and it felt like being with family.
Wednesday was our big disappointment. After driving all the way up the mountain we discovered the road closed. Instead of a 45 minutes straight shot, we had a three hour back track. We took a short hike and then drove like crazy to try to catch our train. We missed it by 20 minutes. We were all so disappointed that fuses were short and tempers flared. We took a short hike to Lazer Caves, had a picnic and headed home. One highlight of the night was that we had dinner at a new Indian restaurant in Yakima. It was delicious and nothing brings me greater pleasure than watching my kids try and enjoy new flavors. We got home late that night and collapsed in our beds with visions of lush mountain scenery, lungs full of clean mountain air, and deliciously sore muscles.
Tony and I worked like Yin and Yang this trip, one of the best parts for me. If given the choice, I still choose unpopulated mountain vacations in rain and snow to the crowds of Disneyland. And, we reminded ourselves often, even the disappointments make for great memories.
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