More Bucketlist trip

Day 4 - July 11 continued:

So, here is a pic of the lodge we stayed in at Mt. Ranier.

Looks cool, I know. However, it cost us $190/night. It was NOT worth that much. 1.  Unless your room is on the third floor, you have to carry your stuff either up or down stairs. 2. The room was a little bigger than a closet and it was hot - with no way to cool it down. 3. The parking right next to the lodge was full so we had to park a block away. 4. The restaurant or cafeteria-type offerings were very expensive.

So, last night we drove to a little town called Packwood and bought groceries for our stay at Mt. Ranier. We actually saw a herd of elk on a lawn in the town - !!!. We then drove back to the park. We spent the evening playing Hand and Foot on the patio of the lodge. We were supposed to stay there another night. Read on to see what we did instead. :)

Day 5 - July 12:

Today was really wonderful. Kent decided that tomorrow's drive would be much more enjoyable if we stayed tonight somewhere closer to Mt. St. Helens. Fortunately, Paradise Inn allowed us to cancel our second night without cost.

Before leaving Mt. Ranier, we went on a short hike to Myrtle Falls. It was a lot of fun. About a third of the trail was still covered in snow. We slipped and slid our way along the trail and saw some beautiful scenery.

We stopped for lunch in this lovely spot. Then we played more Hand and Foot. I guess I'm a glutton for punishment because Kent always beats me soundly in this game! :)

Finding another hotel room turned out to be more difficult than we had thought. We finally found one in a town called Longview. It wasn't a great place but it was big and available!!! The couple that runs it is from India and when I went into the office there were wonderful aromas. ;)

Day 6 - July 13:
Today was perfect. After checking out of our hotel we drove directly to Mt. St. Helens. What an experience that was! I remember when it erupted. We were living in Ann Arbor, MI and a few days after the explosion we had ash on our car!

We went to the Johnston observation center and watched a movie and then took pics and went on a very short walk. 

The next 2 photos show the total devastation that the eruption caused. After all these years it is still pretty stark.

These are some sights we saw on our walk

I asked the ranger if the clouds were just that - clouds - or if it was steam from the volcano. She said it was actually ash being blown by the wind up there. That wind picked up a LOT on our way back to the car. I was trying to make sandwiches while fighting the wind and grit. I was pretty grumpy by the time I finished and we got in the car to drive away. As we drove back down the mountain we had no view of the volcano. Our timing was very good.

We found a church to attend in a place called Toledo. It is quite amazing how much my attitude affected my enjoyment of the meeting. I struggled to stay awake and pay attention. Grumpiness doesn't welcome goodness. :(

I got over it as the day progressed. We finished our drive in Port Angeles.