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Rich on an ATV at the Oregon Dunes, June 2000
Tim on an ATV at the Oregon Dunes, June 2000
The adventure on the ATV's in Oregon was simply
awesome. It was the first time that either
one of us ever drove an ATV and we rode around for 90 minutes on some very
large dunes.
We went up some dunes that were over 130 feet high and pretty steep. Our area
stopped at the
razorback (over 200 feet high) as that was the boundary for our ride area.
You can get lost very
easily on the Oregon dunes since in some areas they go as far as 5 miles in
depth. This was a lot of
fun. So much so that we drove them back to the rental office so I could get
my video camera and then
went back out to film some of our riding. We rented them from "Pacific
Coast Recreation Sand Dune ATV Rentals"
south of the Umpqua River Lighthouse. They also have a really cool gift shop
and were very friendly people. This was
one of the best times Rich and I have had together, and we've had so many.
Me and Rich at Mount St. Helens, Washington, June 2000
You take exit 49 off I-5 at Castle Rock on
504 by the Toutle River and Silver Lake. Words cannot describe Mount St. Helens,
they simply cannot do it justice. The drive was pretty easy until you start
going up the mountain range towards Mount
St. Helens. The road winds around, straight down shoulders and slow going.
Coming down is much easier than going
up (not on the outside edge). You could not see the mountain top due to the
clouds, which upset me. It might be a once in
a life time opportunity and cloud coverage to ruin it. When we left Vancouver
it was really overcast and the weather had been
basically beautiful ever since we left on June 12. Anyway, you knew it when
you reached the blast area. Total destruction still
very visible in areas. The awesome power of that blast was mighty, simply
mighty. You could see the "flow" area along the river.
It's hard to believe that the landscape would still look as it does 20 years
after the explosion of the mountain top. Did you know
that parts of the river are covered under 600 feet of ash? Wow!! We drove
to the Johnston Ridge Observatory, which is as far as
you can drive. I was awe struck. I could stay there for days and days. The
"cone" was still cloud covered so we went in and saw
the 16 minute video in the main theater. (The video was disappointing to both
of us, I could have produced something better......)
After the video they opened the curtains covering the wall behind the screen.
The windows were about 60 feet wide and when
the curtains opened, WOW, the mountain top in full view. THE CLOUDS WERE GONE!!
Rich had a great idea, he said that they
should open up the curtains and show on a screen the volcano erupting "over"
the real mountain top. That would have been
really cool. Great idea!! We rushed out of the theater to take pictures and
video, again, this time in full view. You were on the west
blast side (it was a side eruption) and you could see the lava cone inside
the volcano. The lava cone caps off the volcano. We also
walked to a higher area for a nice vista view. You could see trees off to
one side, away from the blast zone, and then total devastation
in the blast zone. Unbelievable. On the way back they have several areas to
stop and explore. (Probably 80% of the area off the
road is still closed off, like along the river which is still struggling to
grow itself back, where there is all this ash, dust and rock that
came from inside the earth.) We stopped at an area where you were allowed
to stop at and explore, and there was, I cannot remember
what they are called, but they are mounds of ash and rock, small cone shaped,
and are all over the place. Most of these mounds were
covered in the flow area but some were just outside of the flow area. Anyway,
we got some ash and rock from that area. If we felt like
hiking (and had more time) we could have gone into the "forest" area and been
right up by the fallen dead trees and stumps. Mount
St. Helens was wonderful, a great sight to see.
Me and Rich at the Honolulu Airport, April 2001
Check out my Oahu pages for stories about these
and other photos.
Me and Rich at Diamond Head Crater, Oahu, April 2001
Me and Rich in Seattle, June 2000
(Notice his rollerblades, we skated along the
waterfront together. Check out my
pages on Alki Point Lighthouse on my main page for info about this photograph
and being in Seattle in general.)
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