My Uncle Raimund and Aunt Ingrid are visiting us from Germany this month, and we are so enjoying have them here. We thought it would be a fun day trip to take them to see Mt. St. Helens.
So we headed out last Sunday morning around 9:30 or so. We knew it would take us a few hours to get there, but what we didn't plan for was the extra winding roads to take us to Windy Ridge. This is the closest ridge to actually view the side of the mountain that erupted. The boys weren't too thrilled with being trapped in their car seats for so long. We left just before their naptime and thought it would be perfect timing, but they failed to go to sleep, until just before we arrived for a lunch break at a Rangers station just past the town of Cougar.
After lunch, we hit the road again to get to our ultimate destination...Windy Ridge. We arrived around 2 pm, and the boys were going a bit stir crazy. Mom felt quite car sick, so she and Aunt Ingrid stayed down at the parking lot and let the boys play in the back of her van, while the rest of us hiked up 440 stairs to a landing with a great view on the mountain.
Here is a picture of Konnie, warming up for the hike, doing some yoga!!
We are just about half way up the side of the ridge here...
Here is a shot of the mountain
A picture of my wonderful Uncle Raimund.
Here we are, the adventurous hikers, nearly at the viewpoint.
It is amazing to see how much timber is still floating in Spirit Lake, and it has been nearly 30 years since the eruption.
The view of the stairs and parking lot on the way back down the ridge.
When we got back to the parking lot, we were all ready to head home. Everyone wanted to eat a quick bite, so that we could drive non-stop.
Kraig and I took the kiddos back to Dayton, and Mom, Uncle and Auntie went to Leavenworth. We didn't arrive home until 9:30 pm. It was heavenly to be back home and to be able to let Kaden and Kory play and crawl all over the place.
