There’s no place like home!!

A long but gorgeous and exhilarating #15 day of our road trip.   The road took us along the Columbia  River both on the Oregon side and the Washington side.   So many places we could have stopped but the goal for the day was Mt. St. Helens just up in Washington.   I can vividly remember May 18, 1980, standing in the parking lot of University Village mall in front of the old Ernst Hardware store watching the unbelievable smoke pouring up from the volcano.    And ash falling everywhere.  We have somehow never been there to see the visitor center and exhibits about the event which destroyed so much old forest and valleys.  So today was the day, it could not have been nicer. The animals and plants that survived and the regrowth is awesome.   The blip is the closeup of the crater and the valley that the huge slide came down destroying everything. ..( yes in winter there would be snow) . the extra is the view of Mt. Hood that one can see on the Oregon side of the Columbia... the last road pix.    There are many Indian myths about this mountain that they named “one from whom Smoke comes “. Or “fire mountain” .  I like the legend that tells how “ Mt. Hood ( the husband) and Mt. St. Helens ( his “contrary” wife ) quarreled and threw fire at each other.  Mount St. Helens won the argument.  After that Mt. Hood was afraid while Mt. St. Helens “ having a stout heart, still burned.”
It turned out well that we headed home to Seattle after the rush hour so there was no slow traffic...which can be horrendous and keeps us from traveling in this  direction.
So happy to see green hills and have some moisture in the air. And now we can sleep in our own sea level beds!  A wonderful trip in the car to process now...2nd extra... the Columbia looking to Washington and the Mary Hill  museum..