Day 4: Astoria, Oregon (Part 2)

After Fort Clatsop, we decided to check out the Astoria Column.

Planes are available for a dollar...

...and those who make it to the top can throw their little wood plane over the rail.  Cheap fun!

Unfortunately, there were some local kids (based on their license plate) who made it their mission to steal as many wood planes as possible and hide them in their truck before people could get back down from the tower to claim them.  And after we met their dad, we decided it was definitely not worth messing with him over a $1 plane.  Ha!  Disappointing, but at least we were able to reclaim one of our wood planes to keep for a souvenir.  

Next, we went over to briefly check out the Columbia River Maritime Museum.  Very interesting place...and yet another attraction that we normally would have spent an entire day investigating if we could have.

Knowing that we had a long drive ahead, we had to cut short our Astoria visit and make our way toward Puyallup (pronounced "Pew AL up" with a short a sound...finally mastered this by our last day there!)  We had one more thing to see on the way...
The Pacific Ocean:

It was a very hot day and we were short on time, so we found an ocean access near Cape Disappointment, and we ended up having the whole beach to ourselves which was really special.  This was Elizabeth's first time seeing the ocean, and it was my first time seeing the Pacific. 

She was very excited...

It was a windy day and the waves were wild:

There were all sorts of water birds along the beach:

The pelicans waddling around just made me giggle...

Very pretty spot...

...and a girl happy to see the ocean for the very first time:

Day 4: Astoria, Oregon (Part 1)

Wednesday was a crazy busy day spent in the Astoria, Oregon area. We had far more on our "to do" list than we could possibly accomplish in one day.
We stayed in a riverfront hotel and woke up to this amazing dense fog over the water:

Lots of ships were passing through.  This is the Spar Corvus from Norway.  We were able to track it online which was sort of cool.  

 

The riverfront was gorgeous, and Mike took lots of great pictures.  But there's just no way a blog can do justice to a week in the PNW... so you're just gonna have to stop over sometime if you want to see more.
The fog quickly gave way to sunshine, and this became one of the nicest-weather days of our trip. 
When we travel, one of our favorite things is to experience the history of the region we're visiting.  Astoria is full of Lewis and Clark history, so we had to stop over to the Lewis and Clark National Historic Park to explore Fort Clatsop.

This is the place where the folks from the Lewis and Clark Expedition spent the winter of 1805/06. 

There were beautiful walking trails through the woods:

We met one of the locals along the path...

...he was interesting.

The original fort rotted away, but huts have been reconstructed here and are open to visitors daily:

I think we could have easily spent a whole day here.  They had people dressed in character giving various lessons and demonstrations, and we were only able to catch a couple.  

We stayed for a lesson on the local berries:

Here, Elizabeth is crushing berries for berry leather:

We stopped to say hello to Sacagawea and Jean Baptiste.  I have a great admiration for this woman as she endured all of the discomforts and deprivation of the expedition with a baby. 

I told Elizabeth she should pinch Jean Baptiste's cheek:  

She reluctantly agreed but she felt a little foolish.  ;-) 

I can see that a Part 2 is in order...  We're not even half done with our day!

Day 3: Johnston Ridge

We had lots of memorable experiences in Washington, but looking back, I think this day was my favorite day of the trip.
The mountain climb was safely behind, we had gotten a good night's sleep, and we had a day to spend with John, Bethany and Cynthia.
We were still on Minnesota time, so even though we slept hard and long, we naturally woke up at about 6:45am.  
This was our last morning at the Lone Fir, so we packed up everything and loaded our cars.
Here's a picture of our little cabin:

It was tiny, but it was just what we needed, and the location was perfect.

We rented a 2012 Impala which held all of our luggage in the trunk.  John rented a Jeep Wrangler.  When he picked it up, it had 700 miles on it.  :-)  
We had a park pass, so we began the day by driving up into the park to search out a view of the mountain.
We found a little nook with a wide open view:

(This is the "pretty side" of the mountain)
John and the Jeep:

John and Beth:

Daddy and Boo:

About 10am, we picked up Bethany and Cynthia and headed to the Johnston Ridge Observatory.  The drive there was so beautiful.  
The observatory is in the heart of the blast zone from the eruption.  It is named after David A. Johnston, a scientist who was killed at his observation post about 6 miles from the mountain. 
There was a hot dog cart in the parking lot where we had lunch and then explored the visitor center.

I tried to keep John out of trouble:

Elizabeth making an earthquake:

Cynthia making an earthquake:

There was a scenic path you could climb to get a higher view:

In preparation for our trip, we watched a documentary of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens.  I expected that going to the observatory would be sort of sad, because the scope of the destruction is hard to comprehend.  So, I expected this to be the "ugly side" of the mountain.

Closer view of the crater:

And there were definitely still visible signs of the devastation in every direction:

But what I didn't expect was the beauty in the ashes...it was everywhere.  As you know, this is a theme that resonates with me because I believe that God can bring beauty out of anything--in His way and in His timing.
In the midst of the destruction, scientists thought nothing would grow in the sterile ash, and that it would be a wasteland for a very long time.  But there were mountain flowers that thrived in it...and even the decaying animals beneath the soil provided nutrients for more growth.  Out of the death came abundant life.  There is more wildlife in the area around the mountain now than there was before the eruption.
My favorite story was the prairie lupine.

These purple flowers produce their own nitrogen in their roots, and they nourish the soil around them making the ground hospitable to other plants...and insects...and animals...  I found one source that said it was not typical for lupines to colonize in the middle of an empty landscape...and yet, they did colonize in the sterile ash around Mount St. Helens... The Creator knew that these beautiful flowers would be an important part of the restoration process.  
Beauty for ashes...everywhere you look:

This place is etched in my heart as a vivid reminder of how God brings beauty out of ugly places in His creation, and in our lives.

Day 2: Girl Day

This trip has been in the works for a long time as my hubby was making plans to climb Mount St. Helens.  As it happened, our resort (the place where you pick up climbing passes) was only 4.5 miles from where my dear niece Bethany's husband was placed for his 1 year pastoral internship.  
Providence!  :-)
So, while the guys endured a grueling, hot mountain climb, we spent a relaxed day with Bethany and Cynthia.   (I think it's easy to see who got the better part of that deal!)
We met for breakfast at our resort that morning.  Since I never sleep well on the first night of a vacation, I was pretty beat and didn't have a lot of ambition.  So...we did a little driving, and spent a lot of time just hanging out at the house so that Beth would have lots of time to enjoy Cynthia.
I don't have a lot of great pictures from that day since Mike took our good camera up the mountain.  
But here are a few snapshots from the day:

Beth and Cynthia had lots of bonding time, which meant the world to Elizabeth.  The hardest part about seeing family move away is missing out on watching the little ones grow up.  Cynthia was so beautiful, and still pretty much a perfect baby.  She was so good!

Aww....
We took a little drive, and pulled off at a park for a bit.  Here's my first peek at Mount St. Helens:

I didn't expect to see the mountain until the next day, and the moment I set eyes on the peak, I wanted to just sit and look at it all day.  I knew my guy was on that mountain.  I don't know...maybe I'm weird.  But knowing that the man who holds my heart was climbing that mountain the moment I snapped this picture was something I've never felt before.  I felt sort of all proud and helpless at the same time.  As much as I wanted to drink up every moment with Bethany and Cynthia, my heart was on the mountain with my hubby.
The girls:

Always beautiful...Bethany:

That water was cold!  Cynthia didn't seem to mind though.  
She has spent a lot of her life in a backpack hiking through the hills and valleys around Mount St. Helens, and seems to love the outdoors just like her parents.
It was easy to see that God's plan for their placement was perfect...they seem to fit right in to the community and culture of the area.
We drove up the road a bit and got a little closer look.  This would be my last look at the mountain that day.

The guys returned from their climb in time for supper.  They took a good shower and we took a beautiful drive to a nearby town for some supper.
And the climb?  He came back safe, and dirty, and very thankful.  But, I will let Mike be the first to tell you about his mountain.

Day 1: Departure Day

We brought our luggage up to the living room and took our time packing for this trip.  Normally, I don't stress a lot over packing for vacation because there's very little you can't buy on the road.  But this time, we were going to be in a remote location for the first couple days, and we really did want to remember everything.  Everything essential, anyway...and I suppose essential is a subjective term...  I learned that in my case, it's nearly impossible to pack a week of "essentials" in under 50 pounds.  Sad, but true.

In the process of all that packing, and weighing, and unpacking, and thinning the load, and repacking and weighing...somebody was very concerned.  

This is our little Gretchen, laying on my pillows in our bedroom on the morning we left.  So pathetic and helpless--we are her world.  And I can tell you we'd travel far from home a lot more often if we didn't have her.  Then again...there wouldn't be the welcome wag of a tail when we got home either...

(We left her in good hands though.  I think she was thoroughly spoiled and loved while we were gone.)

Here's our van, all packed and ready to go:  

We had a little lunch at Fletcher's Wharf:

Then we waited to board our flight.  Here's Elizabeth with our plane in the background:

And a rare look at an open cockpit:

(Mike snapped this picture when we boarded...this is probably illegal or something.  Shh...) In her window seat and ready for take-off:

This was Elizabeth's first time in an airplane.  She had a good time. We went over lots of mountains on this trip, so the view was impressive:

Look closely and see our first peek at mount Rainier as we approached Seattle:

We arrived in Washington, shopped for supplies, hooked up with Mike's brother John, enjoyed a Chipotle supper (at about 9pm our time) and made the 3 hour (or so) drive to our little Cabin at the Lone Fir resort in Cougar, Washington.

Home again...

We just returned from a family vacation to Washington State. It was great fun and very exhausting, as family vacations usually are...and one of those trips that will only grow more and more beautiful in our memories as time goes on. This trip was a reminder to me how divine providence is at work in our lives.  Nothing happens by chance, and it is truly a blessing to open our eyes to God's hand at work in the details of our lives.  God was present and faithful through the course of our trip, and it was just a privilege to see His plans unfold.  We were so thankful for the clear weather, which so many of our planned activities depended on.  And we were also thankful for the "life lessons" that we will take with us on our journey when this trip is a distant memory.
Interestingly, the "theme" that emerged early in our vacation was "Beauty for Ashes."  I hope to share more about that later. But for now, I'll just go through the trip day by day and share some pictures from our time in Washington. It will be fun to relive the memories as I share them...from the comfort of my little office here in my little house.  Because as the years go by, I am learning that no matter what adventures we find in our travels, there truly is no place like home.  I'm thankful to be back.  :-)