It was a blast - Day 10

So, Day 10 dawned in Kelso, WA with 100% cloud cover... not exactly the ideal weather to go see Mt St Helens, a 52-mile drive east of Castle Rock, WA. However, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, we were able to make a quick stop at the Mt St Helens Visitor Center that is only 5 miles off I-5 and take a peek at their webcam... which showed brilliant sunshine to the east, and not a cloud in the sky. The road in, US504, is a dream to drive, with an average speed of 50mph, and you are there in no time, after driving through some incredible scenery. Once you get to the Johnson Observatory at the end of the road, you are met with a view that is hard to describe... the massive size of the mountain and the leftovers 30 years later from its massive eruption in 1980 will astound you. The photo above is taken from the JO and there are 360-degree views of the area from many spots. The mountain looked exactly as it does in the above photo while we were there. If you look in the center of the crater, you can see a 1/2 dome... that is where the pressure builds up down below and pushes upward. That dome is 100 million cubic feet in size, and it goes up and down with the pressure as much as 5' a day... like the mountain is breathing!

For those who don't remember the eruption in May 1980... or didn't even know Mt St Helens had erupted back then, this is a US Geological Survey photo of the eruption at full throttle, sending its nearly 15-mile high plume up into the atmosphere, where the winds carried the ash around the world in 14 days.

With our visit to Mt St Helens finished (be sure to give yourself at least 4 hours - 2 hours in and out driving, and at least 2 hours up there and at the various viewpoints), it was time to head home. We hit I-5, and with the exception of a slow 40-minute drive through Seattle-Everett, we made it home in good time (with the required final stop at Denny's for dinner). It was a wonderful vacation, on which we saw many amazing sights, and it just gave us an even bigger list of places to go the next time!