Mount St. Helen's - Finally!

Since moving to Washington, Derek and I have wanted to make a trip to see Mt. St. Helen's. For whatever reason, we just hadn't made it there until now. We were super excited to finally be going!!



And we got to bring Mom with us!


On our first stop to check things out, we discovered that we were just outside the 14 mile wide blast zone.


Then we crossed into the blast zone and it was amazing to see that vegetation still hasn't grown back in some places, 31 years later...




So strange to see a mountain without a peak...

...and this was the "good side" of St. Helen's!

We drove on and stopped at Forest Learning Center to get another view of the mountain.








We drove a little further to get to the Johnston Observatory. It's named for volcanologist David Johnston who was camping on this ridge observing the volcano when it blew. His famous last words were "Vancouver, Vancouver, this is it!"


We went inside to watch the eruption film. After it ended, the curtains were raised and we had this incredible view!


Then we went out onto the observation deck to take a few more pictures and try to comprehend what happened in 1980.







The Lava Dome




We had a nice picture all framed out until the gentleman whose right hand you will find in the left corner decided to join us, oh well.


So after we got all the pictures we wanted, we set out for a stroll on Eruption Trail.

One of the first things we came to was this memorial to the 57 people who lost their lives in the eruption.


So sad...


We continued down eruption trail and just enjoyed the view.







It eventually erupted us into the parking lot and we headed on our way home.

We decided to stop at this little restaurant just outside of Mt. St. Helen's because it had a sign that said "Homemade Cobblers" - I'm pretty sure you would stop, too. =)


And boy were they yummy!!

I had strawberry rhubarb and Derek had blueberry apple. We'll definitely be stopping by this restaurant every time we go visit St. Helen's.

And just look at the river view we had!

So pretty! What a lovely way to end our most fun-filled day of mountain adventure!

Mom's Vacation in Washington!!

If my Mom has any length of vacation time, there is one place she wants to be - Washington! Lucky, lucky me!! =)

Since we moved here in October 2008, she has tried her best to come every spring break and every summer and I just love it! And although I know seeing us is her #1 reason for coming, I think escaping the heat of the south is probably #2.

And as much as the weather did not cooperate for G & Zack, it did cooperate for Mom. It has been absolutely gorgeous weather - super sunny and high temps in the 70s...jealous, aren't you?

So since this was Mom's fourth trip out here, we planned some new adventures for her (and for us, too).

One of the first things we did was head to the movie theater...

There was a movie more on the girly side that I wanted to see and I just had to let Mom experience our famous red electric recliners. I think she liked them =)

Then we headed off to Cold Stone for a yummy treat followed by dinner with our friends, Eric, Justine, and Stephanie. Eric and Justine are moving to Texas VERY soon and it was our last chance to hang out with them. We absolutely cherish our friendship with them and will of course forever be thankful that they turned us into Losties.

They also introduced us to something else called Geocaching. I don't know any other way to explain except to say that it's a real life treasure hunt of sorts. We went on our first geocache after dinner...

...and we found it! So we signed our name to the list and put it back for the next geocacher to find. Fun times!!

I almost forgot that we took a little afternoon trip to Point Defiance Zoo. We saw this gorgeous bald eagle.


I took a picture of the reindeer just for Zack, since they were nowhere to be found on his trip to the zoo a couple of weeks ago.


On Friday, Mom and I headed into Seattle for a little cruise on Lake Union & Lake Washington. This is the same cruise Derek and I got to take when MawMaw Gen and Aunt Tanya visited us in 2009. It was so much fun, I thought Mom would enjoy it, too.

What a beautiful sunny day! In fact, it was so sunny that Mom got a little sunburn =)

We saw some pretty neat things on our tour.

Like this floating home that was used for filming Jason's season of The Bachelor.

Saw some homes of Seattle's rich & famous...

Here is just a tiny part of billionaire Bill Gates' Estate.

This home belongs to the guy who invented Microsoft Word and Excel and I'm sure other software programs as well.

We were also told he dated Martha Stewart for 15 years - wouldn't you like to see that kitchen??

The CEO of Starbucks has some waterfront property, too.


This is the art studio of Dale Chihuly...

He created the gorgeous chandelier at the Bellagio in Las Vegas.


Husky Stadium!


We went under I-5...


And watched a drawbridge open up for a sailboat, fun!


The cruise was just as awesome as I remember it and I'm so glad Mom got to enjoy it!

We were all super excited about our Saturday adventure - a trip to Mt. St. Helen's! Derek and I have been waiting to go here for quite some time...I think I'll save that for a post all it's own because I have quite a few pictures I want to share. Moving on...

Mom got to meet some special little people on her trip...

Precious little Tyce...


...and sweet little Tesa =)

Aren't they the absolute most adorable little things you've ever seen? They sure have melted this Lissa's heart!!

We also went on another new adventure and took the Underground Tour of Seattle on Monday. It was definitely one of my favorite things we've done since moving to Washington - I can't believe it's taken us this long to do it. The tour takes you on a walk underneath Pioneer Square where you can see what was left of the buildings after the great Seattle fire in the late 1800s. We learned alot and had a hilarious tour guide. You can read a more about the history here.

Enjoy the pictures!




What Pioneer Square looked like before the fire. The sidewalks today are level with the awnings in this picture. So we were walking around what was the sidewalk then...make sense?


Skylights planted in the sidewalks above provide pretty cool lighting.


Old refrigerator in it's original spot - too heavy to move.












Fun times underground!

We also enjoyed exploring beautiful Pioneer Square.








Smith Tower - used to be Seattle's tallest building. You can visit the observation deck for only $7, way cheaper than the Space Needle.


And the aroma of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory lured us in for some treats.

I'm convinced heaven must smell like this place!

We strolled down to Pike Place Market, but it was closing time, so no fun fish throwing or flowers today.


And then we went on down to 5th Avenue to take Mom to see Aladdin on Broadway.

This was her first time going to the theater and she loved it! I know she'd like to go alot more often, but she's definitely not waiting on Greg Taylor to take her, ha! A Friday night football game is about as close to theater as he's going to get =)

Luckily, yesterday was our local farmer's market so we stopped by and got ourselves some yummy cupcakes!


And some flowers, yay!


I had the BEST time with Mom here, as always. I'll be making a little trip home soon so I thought I would be alot tougher dropping her off at the airport...but I thought wrong. I just can't stand saying goodbye and cried most of the way home (even though Mom said no tears). I'm so thankful to have a Mom that I love and miss so much that it brings me to tears. Can't wait for our next adventures!!