An "Easier" Day

We are not as young as we used to be. I think all this activity caught up with us today, so we took it a little more slowly. We took our time on the drive to Mt. St. Helens, once again, hoping the weather would cooperate. Today, it didn't. Driving up an adjacent mountain to Johnston Ridge, the clouds continued to shroud the volcanic crater. There was one short moment (I got out and took a picture) when the cloud cover lifted just enough to see the majority of the eruption site, but for the most part, the rugged landscape of the crater stayed hidden. As we climbed higher, rounding bends that seemed to drop off into nowhere, we anxiously awaited for the usual parting of the skies, but it just didn't happen today. There were times that the entire mountain was covered in fog and clouds, other times when you could see the bottom of the snow cap, but we never did view the mountain in its entirety. We were, however, treated to some beautiful wildflowers on the way down (see pictures).

The scale of the atlas made Washington look deceivingly larger than it actually is; therefore, we made it to Portland in really good time. We chose to spend the night in Vancouver, Washington so we can get a good night's sleep and any early start in the morning.

For dinner, we ate at McGrath's Fishhouse--another good meal. Tim had chicken; he said he's saving the seafood for the California coast. I had a shrimp feast that include coconut shrimp, a beer-battered shrimp, a marinated grilled shrimp, and a shrimp stuffed with crabmeat--yum! I can't get enough seafood while it's this fresh. Tim sampled mine and agreed that it was good.

It's 12:05 Sunday morning; I'm going to bed earlier than I have all trip. Here's to a good night's sleep!