Going Ape

As you can see from the photo of the volcano the lava dome is building up quite nicely yet again.  This year we had some really gorgeous views of the volcano and the mountain ridge lines. This photo was taken up at the Johnston Ridge Observatory.

It was on the second day of our trip that we went to the Ape Caves and Windy Ridge Loop.  Yes I said Ape Cave.  It is actually a lava tube.  Fun trip.  Oh and I did trip.  I managed to severely sprain my left ankle in the caves. 

I tripped halfway through the EASY CAVE and refused to quit.  I kept going to the end and climbed back up again.  I still managed to make it to Windy Ridge too.

These are what are known as the rail road tracks inside the cave which formed naturally.











This is called a Lava Meatball.  It fell 12 feet from the ceiling and rolled along the lava until it got stuck right here.

Three quarter of a mile there and three quarters of a mile back.  Yes 1.5 miles.  See I can add.

Towards the back of the cave you have to crawl.  I kid you not!

Ah there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Finally getting back out again.  Its quite chilly in the tube, about 46 F.  I could see my breath and was happy I had a fleece vest.

I made it to this point at Windy Ridge Loop view point, which is about half way up.

See that tiny person in the photo?  That is J and he is almost to where I stopped which is the photo above.  Not bad for a person with a sprained ankle.  I wanted a good vacation so I did everything possible to enjoy it.

J waving at me from the very top of Windy Ridge. 

This is part of the blast zone from the 1980 explosion.

The lateral blast knocked down any tree less than 8 feet in diameter, moments later, the landslide pushed dirt, rock and trees into the southern end of the lake, forcing the water up over the northern shores.  When the lake flowed back into it's new bed, all the trees on the hillside were washed into the new lake.  The whitish stuff is the trees.

See the tiny island to the left and closest to the land mass in the front of the photo?  That used to be the area in which President Truman's lodge was located.  It now sits at the bottom of the lake buried by the blast.

This is a photo of J and me at Windy Ridge Loop Mount St. Helen's National Volcanic Monument.  Squinting from the sun and wind with smiles on our faces.

Flowers growing wild in the blast zone.

Now for the complaints, though few, here they are:
Many thanks to Stayfree, Kotex, Playtex and Tampax for aiding me in making it through my holiday with J.  J says to say "screw you Al.wa.ys and your 'have a happy period'".  So yes the 27th brought the flood gates from hell in the evening.  The Endometriosis has definitely grown back.  Piggybacking tampon with pad got me through about two hours at a time while on my adventure.  Side note:  porta-potties are not very conducive to female needs.  Thankfully I keep hand sanitizer with me!

 I went to the doctor today.  The ankle is wrapped and they gave me an IM of Toradel.  Hasn't helped a bit yet and it should have before I left the office.  I rolled my ankle out, then in causing a three stage sprain: high ankle, medial and lateral.  I still had a fun time in the caves and managed to walk out on my own two feet.

J and I celebrated his birthday on the road and he is so proud of me, and so am I for what it matters, for making the vacation fun though I was injured and in major pain from the endo.  There are times you just have to say "screw it I'm going to live my life no matter how much pain I'm in.".

Mount St. Helen's Volcano

Photo by me of the Johnston Ridge Observatory.  Cold rain and fog settled on Mt. St. Helen's and stayed there the whole drive up the trail to the top most accessible viewpoint; The Johnston Ridge Observatory.  We paid our admission fee of $8 per person with no discounts to walk about the observatory.  I would rather pay the $8 per person then be caught and pay the $500 fine.  Though the views that day I doubt were even worth the gas used or the admission fee I can now say that I've been there, done that and have the souvenirs to prove it.

"They put all the trees in a tree museum".  Seriously though they did haul in the remains of one tree after the eruption blew the top off it.  It looks rather like a Halloween prop from a Tim Burton flic.  The forestry people take their trees seriously too bad they don't take their displays serious enough.  On the display were these little doors with question on them.  You lift the doors to see the answers.  In the set up of the display some idiot obviously didn't know what they were doing as the answers for two questions were under the wrong doors.  Oh and its not easily changed either.  To fix it would cause damage to the display.

"Are you older than a rock?".  I am.  Hmm...makes me feel like I'm older than dirt to see something like a chunk of rock younger than I am.  But that's okay I'm much prettier than a chunk of rock.  Speaking of rocks, my husband purchase for me a few rocks.  Well they used to be hot rock from Mt. St. Helen's, now they are emerald set into earrings and a ring for me. 

Photo of the sediment dam by my husband.  Around 1400hrs when we were traveling back down Mt.St.Helen's the cloud cover began to lift.  Of course it did, we were leaving the area.  My husband was able to finally get a few good photos of the lower valley areas damaged by the volcano eruption in 1981. 

We stopped in Hoffstadt on the mountain for lunch.  J had an elk burger and I had a bleu cheese bacon burger.  I realized I shouldn't be eating a beef or bacon item but it tasted so darn good.  Later I paid for it.

One of my photos I took while at the observatory at the top part of the trail.  The land is still badly scarred by the most recent of the volcanic activity and may not fully heal for another 50 years.  Inside the mountain, deep underground is the hot molten lava just waiting to boil to the surface again.  The lava dome is growing, sometimes only an inch sometimes several dump truck loads of dirt a minute.  We can only wait and see when it could erupt again.  I just hope I'm not here when it happens.

Over all the trip there wasn't too bad considering how early we had to get up in the morning to get down to the mountain range.  The souvenir shopping I did was well worth the trip making my xmas shopping list almost complete.   I didn't buy cliche' type souvenirs, no I bought classy ones that can be used, worn, or put on the mantel without looking gaudy.  I still think I should have purchased the Bigfoot t-shirt for J's brother but I didn't so its too late for that, unless I go back again.

Still On Holiday, I Hope

Photo by me.  It rained Tuesday, Wednesday and again today which is Thursday here still on the West Coast.  The vacation we had planned for hiking and picture taking still happened though not as planned.

The cloud cover and fog at the higher elevations of 3,000+ feet was so much at times that it was difficult to even see the road.  Still we managed to have a good time the first day.

The photo is of a plant on Mount St. Helen's that intrigued me.  Why?  Well the rain had fallen and just stayed in droplets looking as if they were diamonds.

I plan on making more of a thorough blog post later this week or probably when the vacation is finally over.  Maybe I'll post a better blog entry at the next destination.

Yes, we are planning on hitting the road again.  Quite possibly taking off tomorrow morning early if we can book a vacation area tonight.

Maybe this time I'll get to go browsing for antiques in this journey.

More photos to follow at a later date.

Let There Be Snow

We are heading out on our next adventure.  We need it bad too.  After a week spent mostly at home watching the lawn turn brown from the trucks rolling over it we need to get away.

Why the photo of Winter?  Well where we are headed there will be snow.  I'm hoping for lots of snow.  From the forecast and from what the innkeeper said yesterday there is about 13 feet of snow covering one highway that should actually be open this time of year.  I'm excited.

I've called the housesitter up and she's agreed to be here at the appointed time.  We are bugging out tomorrow morning early.  I've got my hiking boots ready and warm weather gear along with some heavier clothing items.  I'm set.  J's set because I packed for him.  I'll just have to remind him to grab a coat tomorrow.

Playing in the snow in the Northern Hemisphere in July is awesome.  I just wonder how close we'll actually get to the snow.  I have to admit finding out that one highway that we had planned to travel is closed does put a bit of a damper on our sight seeing but I'm still excited.  Two volcanos and snow.  The thrill of the unknown.  Could this be the day that they decide to shake awake and puff out some plumes of smoke?  Or will I just see snow filled craters?  Either way I'm going to get some good photos or so I hope.

I'm excited.  Did I say that already?  Yes, I did.

Vacationing At Home

Vacationing at home is for the birds.  I've decided that I don't like this at all.  We are again plotting a way to cheaply and efficiently get out of town.

Staying home means that we are finding more problems with the lawn and the structure.  Oh, its not me.  J is complaining to the highest levels now about his lawn.  He is restless and this means I too am not going to get the chance to rest.

A soldier on vacation and stuck at home is not a pretty picture.  He loves his routine.  He still exercises in the morning, has his big morning breakfast or tries to at least, then heads directly to the computer like he does at work.  Then my question is: "why is he complaining?". 

Recently we had sod put down where the construction workers had dug up the lawn.  The paperwork we received on the sod and lawn treatment states clearly that the company that put it down would remain responsible for the lawn until it was able to be mowed.

We get back from our three day weekend adventure to find that the sod has died in the back area.  The hydro seed has turned brown too.  J is not a happy camper.  J calls up the office in charge of the situation after telling the water tank driver that he has to water the lawn properly.  Well the reason why he ended up calling the office in charge is because the water tank driver decided to do exactly what he thought J wanted and get closer to the dying grass, he drove up over the lawn.  J is fuming at this point.  There are hoses on the water truck for a reason.  He thought for sure that the driver wasn't as stupid as he looked and would understand that he must get out of his truck and hook up the hoses to water the lawn.  UGH!

So now we are having a tech from Equity come out here today to take a closer look at the lawn and how it is deteriorating.  Not to forget the tree that is now dying because the water truck is taking out its branches and running over its roots.

No J is not a happy person right now.  Vacationing with him at home is not ideal.  He has way too much time on his hands.  So we just might take that Mount St. Helen's and Mount Rainier trip early next week after all.
If it gets bad enough we might take a day trip this weekend just so he doesn't try to find more fault with his surroundings.

I too like to get away from my prison, err...house.  I'm here all day most every day.  But I've gotten used to this place.  I now have a routine.  J is on vacation and has too much energy, too much time on his hands and not enough to do to keep him occupied for long.

Second Day Of Vacation

View of our beds.

My blog posts are now a day behind.  Its actually the end of our third day of vacation as I post this but I thought I'd write a bit about what I did yesterday and add on some photos for those of you that would like to see what there is to do in Leavenworth, WA.

Yesterday was the second day of our vacation.  We stayed in room 203 for two nights and had the buffet breakfast on the fourth floor.  Each morning the owner walks out onto the balcony with his alp-horn and ascends to the railing to serenade the town and his guests.  Breakfast was quite filling and very delicious. 

  After breakfast we headed out to the Championship Putting Course across the street.  I've never golfed before and really found it to be a fun sport.  I might just have to go out and buy some clubs.  I'm not a competitive person so I didn't mind not scoring par on all 18 holes.  Just one hole did I make par and I was still pleased with myself.

Soon it was time for another sport, shopping.  Shopping in a tourist town should be considered a contact sport.  The streets were getting crowded at only 1000 hrs.  Of course I think some of the crowd was do in part to the Freedom Fest celebrating the Fourth Of July.  Funny how many holidays have turned into festivals of shopping.

Today we headed home.  I have plenty more pictures of our adventures but not enough room to share them here.  I can honestly say I'll be missing that hot tub tonight.  Two nights in a row of using a blissful hot tub on sore, aching muscles and tonight I have to make do with a bathtub instead.  Well I guess I should be thankful that I have hot water.

CD 22, 12dpo, 2 days till I test.  I'm cranky.  I'm having my doubts.

Now its on to planning the Mount St. Helen's trip.