We went to the volcano Mount St Helens today. we set of early as thunderstorms were forecast for late afternoon. It was a lovely drive up wooded valleys. We passed Silver Lake and then got to Toutle. Then we followed North Fork Toutle River. We got as far as Coldwater Lake and got great views of the crater of the volcano. The road was then closed due to snow.

I will tell you about this volcano. It erupted May 18th 1980. I can remember seeing the pictures on television at the time. The environment all around was totally devastated, covered by the eruption and 2 new lakes were formed. Nature has a force to evolve and now 37 years later there are trees and grass and flowers and the lake we saw was full of life. Every where looks good.

On our way back the clouds began to gather and as we ate our lunch the thunder started. The lady at the café told us as we left we must go now and “hunker up” there had been warnings on her television about the storm.

Well we have had thunder and lightening and heavy rain but nothing too bad. There have been more warnings on TV about huge hailstones and an intense storm but here in our hotel we are fine. The TV has gone off and on . Perhaps they are getting it up in the mountains so just as well we came back early! Nothing could ever be as bad as we had in Haast New Zealand for 3 days continuous ha ha!

Hope you like beautiful Mount St. Helen. We think it is very beautiful and may go back there tomorrow.

Saw this bird of prey in the mountains.

lots of love from me xxx