| « Day 6 |
Road Trip
West 2003
|
Day 8 » |
Date:
Wednesday, August 6, 2003
Route:
» US-101 South to Newport, OR
» US-20 East to I-5 via Corvallis, OR
» I-5 North to Castle Rock, WA (stop off in Portland, OR)
» WA-504 to Johnston Ridge Observatory, Mount St. Helens (Round Trip)
» I-5 North to Lynnwood, WADistance: 446 miles
Excursions: 27 miles
Trip Total: 3017 miles
Log:
We took it slow getting started on Wednesday morning and sat around in camp talking over tea.
We split up from Kevin and Colleen to make our separate ways to Lynnwood, WA. When we finally got on the road, we headed back down to Newport to catch US-20 east to I-5. We stopped for about two hours in Portland, Oregon, long enough to walk through downtown, get some lunch from a street vendor (really good Indian food), and visit Powell's Books, where we bought Mostly Harmless by Douglas Adams and some postcards.
On the way north, we decided to take a detour to see the Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. The destruction caused by the May 18, 1980 eruption is still very much in evidence today. From the Web site: "Nearly 230 square miles of forest was blown over or left dead and standing. At the same time a mushroom-shaped column of ash rose thousands of feet skyward and drifted downwind, turning day into night as dark, gray ash fell over eastern Washington and beyond. The eruption lasted 9 hours, but Mount St. Helens and the surrounding landscape were dramatically changed within moments."
We visited the Johnston Ridge Observatory, 52 miles in from I-5, and were amazed by how beautiful such destruction could be. We were also thankful that we did not have Juniper along, after seeing the Pet Area! (There was actually an area behind the sign, but it was still rather steep.)
After Mount St. Helens, we drove back down WA-504 to I-5, and headed north toward Seattle. We made a futile attempt along the way to find the house where Rob grew up, but realized we needed directions from Rob's parents before we attempted it again (Federal Way is full of very windy streets). We drove through Seattle without stopping because we were trying to get to Greg's house in Lynnwood to meet up with everyone, and we knew we'd be back later on the trip.
The folks who were headed to the cabin in Westport met up that night at Greg's house -- Kevin and Colleen drove from Madison, Wisconsin; Mike flew in from Minneapolis, MN; Doris flew in from Kalamazoo, MI, and Rob and Jenn drove in from Austin, Texas (of course). Rachel took the train from Vancouver, BC, the next day. We stayed up way too late talking and catching up before we turned in for the night.
» Day 8
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |