I'll Have My Burger Well Done

It was a beautiful day to visit the mountains.  Shan, Beth, Shari, Terri and I drove up to the Mount St. Helens Visitor's Center which is as close to the crater as you can get without hiking.  Even after 33 years it still looks like a site of devastation. The mountain looks barren and the valley is still gray sand for miles.

After the collapse of the side the mountain the wave of water, dirt and trees traveled across the 5 mile valley coming up thousands of feet to go over the ridge we were standing on.

We watch a 16 minute video in the visitor's center.  It was like watching a horror movie, but this one was what has really happened.  The audience was shocked and silent by the end of the video.  As the video ends the screen rolls up and the curtain parts to give you a full view of what's left of the mountain.

I sat there wondering if I had a front row seat for the next explosion.

If you place your hands on each side of the mountain photo at the slope angle of each side, where your hands meet will show you how much of the mountain slid and disappeared that day.  They're missing a lot of mountain.  It was the biggest landslide/collapse in recorded history.

If the mud/water slide didn't kill you the heated vapors from the blast would have done you in.

Terri looking at the remains of the mountain.

A family lunch miles down the mountain overlooking the Touttle Valley.

A great burger outside the blast zone.

Terri had her burger well done.

Fine mountain folk art.

Two trees growing up through the inside of an old logging truck.

It's been there for a while.  If that isn't art, what is?

 

A few family members have asked how I am doing.  I haven't broken any of my promises to not hike and over do things.  I'm mastering the fine art of napping.  Each day I feel better and can now breathe a full deep breath.  Oxygen is my new best friend.