Mt. St. Helens erupted. As a child of parents who loved camping in the Northwest, I was lucky enough to visit Mt. St. Helens, and do some camping and hiking. Spirit Lake was a beautiful, yet eerie lake. I still recall canoeing around the lake and feeling uneasy about seeing through the clear water all the way to the bottom of the lake in some places. I am glad that I got to experience the beauty of this place before the big eruption and subsequent obliteration of this scenic area.
I'll never forget heading out to Fairchild AFB near Spokane to see the highly anticipated airshow, only to be turned away at the gate by an officer who was standing there with a megaphone, telling people to return home due to the eruption of Mt. St. Helens. What we had all assumed was a thunderstorm rolling in in the distance, was really an ash cloud. At 3 pm, the sky turned pitch black and ash fell and fell. It was the weirdest thing! We didn't have school for 2 weeks and when we returned, we had to wear surgical masks to play outside. We all had fun decorating the masks with mouths of various animals. Wish I had a picture of that!
The mountain before the eruption ~ it's pretty amazing to compare to what it looks like now.....(see below)
My friend Beth and I....we became penpals for several years afterward.
It's too bad that such a beautiful place no longer exists.......
Here's an after picture I googled....quite the difference!!
My mom still has a jar of ash she collected from our driveway in Spokane. Where were you on May, 18, 1980? That's definitely one date that will always be infamous to me.
WOW!!!!
ReplyDeleteThis was such a great post!
I try to fill my kids heads full of great memories...that no matter where life takes them...they will always have a treasure chest of memories!
I wasn't alive yet, but my mom has told me about that day just about every year. They lived on the farm in Mesa and she went home from church early with my older brother who was 1 1/2 because he needed a nap or something and they all thought the world was ending. I think she has a jar of ash too. Those before pictures are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed hearing your memories of the day. I didn't realize you experienced it firsthand. I was in band class in Idaho when I heard the announcement.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember where I was, but I remember my grandmother calling us with the news.
ReplyDeleteNancy and I (along with our four kids) were in London, England. We got a call from Nancy's parents.
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