We went to two volcanoes in the
Cascade Mt. Range: Mt. Rainer & Mt. St. Helens. On Mt. Rainer,
it
was a 2 & a half hour long hike
without water. We ended up drinking out of a glacial ice stream! It
was fresh and cold. We didn't know it would be this long of a hike.
On the way up, we saw something that my dad called a monkey. It
turned out to be a marmot! It was perched on a rock. We saw many more
marmots on the side of the path or on rocks. At this point, I was
exhausted and dehydrated, and there was no stream at the top. So we
made it to the top and turned around. The next day, we got in the RV
and drove to Mt. St. Helens. Now, this volcano blew its top and side
off on Sunday, May 18, 1980.
Here is a picture of Mt. St. Helens
right now:
So, we go there and we stare at the
massive volcano towering before us. We go inside and watch 2 films
about how the entire north face fell and how 57 people died during
the 2 eruptions that took place. The day before it erupted, when it
looked safe, police and security and such let people past the red
zone and into their homes and businesses. Then they would escort them
out. The next day, at 8:32 a.m., the excitement began. The volcano's
top slid of at a speed of 150 miles per hour at incoming forests,
cities, and animals past the red zone. Now, Harry Truman was one of
those 57 people who died. But he died being stubborn. He said that
the mountain was his home, and that since he had been there 50 years,
he was like part of the mountain. Harry lived at Spirit Lake, a lake
at the base of Mt. St. Helens. Before the eruption, there was
geologist named David Johnston who had set up a camp about six miles
away from the mountain. He was there to monitor the growing bulge on
the side of the mountain. It was growing at a rate of about 5 feet a
day!
Eventually, after the explosion, a
massive ash cloud left dead trees standing, and the ash surrounded
the world. It covered up the sun and made it pitch black everywhere.
Even though the eruption destroyed the
land, it helped rebuild a new one. Small creatures came out from
underneath, protected from the blast, such as moles and pocket
gophers. Frogs and salamanders came back to bare ponds. Elk and deer
munched on flowers the popped up every day.
Stay tuned for more blogs with Erin!
Alright, alright! New blog here, and this one's about a big boat. No, huge ship. No, big ol' Celebrity Solstice! Let me warn you: this is an extra-long special blog for our two weeks of adventure! So we'll skip the boring stuff and head to the cruise ship. Now, this ship was over 50 times the size of the RV! There were 15 floors, and over thousands of rooms. 1/10 of the boat was for staff, but whatever. There was a fun factory, a library, guest rooms, a buffet, a restaurant, an engine room, 2 pools, 4 big hammocks, hundreds of lounge chairs, and so much more! I found friends there, and I played a bit of Minecraft on the Xbox at the fun factory. I will not fail to mention the excellent service there. My grandma and Reese, my brother, were there with us. We saw humpback whales and the biggest glacier I will ever see in my life.
