Magnet #50 - Mount St. Helens, Washington. (State)I'll confess, the reason for picking a volcano today: Tonight's Doctor Who eppy in the UK is Fires of Pompeii, where they go back in time to visit Mount Vesuvius on Volcano Day. What?
But, I have actually visited this particular volcano on a cross-country train trip. We decided on a lark to visit Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument. I was a little unnerved while there, because I felt that it would be just my luck that it would blow on the day I just happened to be visiting.
Of course, I blame this fear on this weird exhibit movie we saw while there. You know...the classic scary one with a deep voiceover which showed tranquil pictures and scary music and the dire message at the end: It. Could. Blow. At. Any. Time!!!!
But the grounds and the drive was absolutely amazing. You wend your way through the park, gaining different views of the volcano, and on a clear day, it's plain to see what devastation it wrought years ago. There's a bit of hope, though, when you see how life has creeped back from that devastation.
It erupted in May 1980, and I have to say, as a 1st grader in North Carolina, I was superafraid that the lava was going to come get us. It was in Washington, you see. And I hadn't yet made the distinction between Washington the state, and Washington, D.C. Heh.
