Oregon

The first part of our 4th of July weekend trip was to Mt. St. Helens. For the second part we went to Oregon for the day. After Mr. V came wandering back into our hotel room after his completely insane 14 mile hike in the rain (if you go back to my Mt. St. Helens post you'll remember that I decided to not go on a crazy hike with him, and instead work on some random projects that I brought along to entertain myself because I knew he'd want to do something crazy), soaking wet and looking like death (and no I'm not exaggerating - it took one look at him to make me feel completely confident that I made the right choice to not go on the hike - I wish I had taken a picture of him so you could see how rough he looked), we headed out to see the fireworks in the small town of Kelso.

New Orleans may be known for constant partying and hurricanes (the drink and the storm), but they apparently don't have normal fireworks displays that the whole town comes out to see. We set up camp on the side of a lake in town, and while I had never been to Kelso before, it looked just like any other fireworks set up I've ever seen - lots of people out to see a 20 minute show. Simple right? Well, Mr. V was in awe because he had never been to something like this. He couldn't believe how many people had showed up and that people actually came out in large groups like this to watch fireworks. I was pretty amused by that because it never occurred to me that he had never done something that seemed so normal to me. The differences between the way the 2 of us grew up never cease to amaze me.

The next day we went about an hour south to the Washington/Oregon border. I had never been to Oregon before and I still have my goal of wanting to see all 50 states before I turn 30 (though with 14 states left, and a little over 9 months until I turn 30, I am sad to say that I don't see myself accomplishing that goal.) There's stuff to do in Oregon but we were already 5 hours away from Whidbey Island, and we had to get back that night, so we were limited to doing stuff along the border, just so we could get back before 3am. I didn't care though. There are a few things that I'd like to see in Oregon one day, but for this trip I was perfectly content to just cross the border, see something, regardless of what it was, come home, and color in Oregon on my map of states that I have visited.

What I didn't know, is that the border of Washington and Oregon is quite possibly one of the most beautiful places in this country (I should just admit by now that even after 2 years of living here, I still know next to nothing about the Pacific Northwest). The Columbia River runs along the border of the 2 states and the Columbia River Gorge is absolutely beautiful. I had heard people talk about the gorge before, but I never gave it much thought. It just sounded like a river and mountains to me, and while thats pretty, it didn't seem like anything remarkable.

First, the history nerd in me was fascinated by the fact that this is the river that Lewis and Clark traveled on to reach the Pacific Ocean (the place where they finished their adventure is one of the places that I still want to see in Oregon). Second, its absolutely beautiful!! The area outside of Portland is the area we explored, and neither one of us wanted to leave.

(As a side note, I also had no idea that Portland sat literally right on the border of Washington and Oregon, and I'm usually pretty good at geography so I have no idea how I missed that small fact.)

We initially decided to visit this area because 1 - it was in Oregon and I wanted to see Oregon, and 2 - there is a waterfall there that was used for a second or 2 in the movie Twilight, and yes I'm a huge nerd, but I love the Twilight movies and I love seeing places where movies were filmed.

I've seen a lot of waterfalls so I wasn't expecting much, but Multnomah Falls can now be added to the list of "prettiest waterfalls I've ever seen". Its also a huge tourist area which I was kind of surprised about. The entire Columbia River Gorge is a tourist area, but there are lots of places all along the river, so I was slightly surprised to see that the majority of the people visiting the area seemed to be congregating at Multnomah Falls. I felt like the only person around who had never even heard of this waterfall before. So we spent some time there, ate dinner in the restaurant at the base of the falls, then watched the sunset over the gorge and headed back home.

We finally made it home around 2:00 in the morning, and while Mr. V was exhausted when he had to get up for work the next morning, all in all, we both agree that it was a fun vacation. I know that I personally got more out of it than I expected because I saw a new place that I never knew of before and it was much more beautiful than I ever imagined. Now I want to head back to the same area to explore more of the gorge when we aren't rushing around to make it back home that same day. There are waterfalls all along the river, plus overlook points and other things that look interesting to see. So hopefully we'll make it back there sometime soon!

(I always take a picture of the welcome sign when I visit new states but that's hard to do when there isn't a place to pull over and stop)

(another attempt at a "Welcome to Oregon" sign)

(The Columbia River - traveled by Lewis and Clark to the Pacific Ocean)

(Latourell Falls - just one of the many waterfalls along the Columbia River Gorge)

(These are the falls that appear for a brief second in Twilight, and also one of the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen)

(Multnomah Falls)

(at the bottom of the falls)

(on the bridge by the upper falls)

(just me :-))

(so beautiful!)

(view from the falls - looking towards the Columbia River Gorge)

(rainbow!)

(this is my favorite picture of the waterfall)

(restaurant and visitor's center with the waterfall behind it)

(sunset over the Columbia River Gorge)

(Columbia River Gorge)

(The View Point Inn - used to film the prom scene in Twilight)

(The View Point Inn - used to film the prom scene in Twilight, and it also has a beautiful view of the Columbia River Gorge...the sunset was beautiful from here)

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #3

The 3rd installment of the MilSpouse Friday Fill-In from Wife of a Sailor:

1. What is your favorite household chore?

Laundry. I can't say that I LOVE doing the laundry, but I suppose its my favorite because I won't allow anyone else to do it for me. I've had too many things shrink, get bleached, turn colors, etc. on me for me to be ok with anyone else touching my clothes.

2. What is your favorite childhood memory?

Can I have favorite memories instead of just one? Recently I've been thinking a lot about my grandparents and how much I miss them. They are getting older and its only recently sunk in to me that they won't be around forever. My grandfather has been pretty depressed ever since I moved away from New Jersey, so I try my hardest to keep in touch with him as often as possible. In thinking about them though, I've thought a lot about my childhood. I am their only grandchild and they spoiled me rotten! They took me on so many trips and did so many fun things with me that it would be hard to choose just one. So trips to the aquarium, nature parks, historic parks, lighthouses, zoo, etc...all rank up there in my favorite childhood memories. My grandfather was also a wood worker. He made all kinds of things (decorations, furniture, etc), and he used to help me make things too. I have a whole arsenal of random pieces of wood that I glued together, painted or nailed together when I was with him. Grandma and Grandpa would ALWAYS find something fun to do when they were babysitting me (which was fairly often), so its impossible to pick just one thing. I'd have to say simply that any time spent with my grandparents (my mother's parents) would rank up there in my favorite childhood memories.

3. What is your most embarrassing moment?

I'm not sure if I can actually answer this one. I know I've done plenty of things that have been embarrassing for me, but I honestly can't remember the most embarrassing. I'm not a person who likes to be in the spotlight though, so I get embarrassed pretty easily. Anything that puts me front and center in a situation has the ability to turn my face red and make me want to hide.

4. What uniform of your spouse’s is your favorite?

His choker whites. They are so traditional, and when I hear "Naval Officer" its what instantly comes to mind. Plus its the uniform he wore for our wedding :-).

5. What canceled TV show do you miss the most?

Can I miss one that has technically ended, even though it hasn't ended for me yet? I'm about 6 years behind the rest of the world when it comes to watching Lost. I didn't start watching it until it only had 3 episodes left (Thank you to my friend with no cable ;-)!) While babysitting her son one night I was "forced" to watch Lost because there was nothing else on. The episode made absolutely no sense to me, but it still caught my attention enough that I had to go home and start watching it from the beginning. I had purposefully avoided watching Lost for years because I knew I would get hooked on it, and then get annoyed if I missed an episode here and there. Now I'm hooked, but I can watch episodes one right after the other, without having to wait a week in between. I have about 8 more episodes before the series is done for me. I'm looking forward to re-watching the episode that I saw at my friend's house, with the hope that it will make more sense this time around (though I'm not counting on it), but I already don't want the series to end! So the short answer here is - Lost - even though, I haven't finished watching every episode yet.

Mt. St. Helens

I'm writing this blog from our laptop in a hotel room in the teeny tiny town of Kelso, Washington (which ironically has much more to offer than Oak Harbor). We came down here for 4th of July weekend to visit Mt. St. Helens.

I have always been fascinated by Mt. St. Helens, mainly because I had a pen-pal in elementary school who lived on the Oregon/Washington border and she used to tell me stories about visiting the mountain. I also always thought that it was the only active volcano in the continental United States, which I was promptly proved wrong about the moment we moved to Washington.

So for anyone who's been living under a rock for the past 30 years, Mt. St. Helens, in southern Washington state, erupted on May 18, 1980 in a massive explosion that literally blew off the entire top and side portion of the mountain, caused severe damage to the area and towns around it, and killed 57 people.

(On a side note, I had a horrifying moment when I realized how old I was a few days ago. We were planning the trip and Mr. V told me that the National Forest Service has been celebrating the 30th anniversary of the eruption. I knew that it erupted a little less than a year before I was born in 1981, but I guess I just wasn't thinking because I said "30th anniversary? There's no possible way that it has already been 30 years. It erupted less than a year before I was born.....ohhh...." That would be the moment when I think it really hit me that I am almost 30 years old. But anyway, back to the trip...)

This is what the mountain looked like before the 1980 eruption:
A few weeks before the eruption, a bulge began to form on the north side of the mountain (following several weeks of earthquakes and some very minor eruptions). I honestly can't even imagine seeing this, knowing full well that there would inevitably be a massive explosion when this bulge broke through the surface.
And on May 18th, around 8:30 in the morning, this happened:


All that was left, when the eruption was over, was this:
I think its safe to say that Mt. St. Helens is no longer a beautiful, majestic mountain (although there is a lava dome in the center of it, formed by the mountain slowly starting to rebuild itself, so maybe it will be big and beautiful again in the future).

So yesterday, Mr. V and I set off to visit Mt. St. Helens. It was definitely a very cool thing to see. Unfortunately, it was cloudy, which is nothing new to Washington, so we actually couldn't see the whole mountain, but we were able to see the crater, and since the mountain has lost thousands of feet off the top of it, we were told that the clouds really weren't covering too much of it. If they had just lifted a tiny bit, we would have been able to see the top.

I'm just happy that we got to see anything, because based on normal weather around here, and the live webcam set up at the mountain's viewing site this morning, many people come out here and see absolutely nothing because of the fog and clouds. I wanted to see the part of the mountain that had been blown off, and I did, so I was happy :-).

(park ranger at the visitor's center - if you look at the picture he's holding you can see the lava dome that has been growing in the crater for the past few years

(me at the visitor's center - before I gave in to the cold weather and changed into warmer clothes)

(driving to Mt. St. Helens)

(This place is a small visitor's center and an A-frame house that was destroyed during the eruption. The house is half buried in the ash from the explosion.)

(This is at the A-frame house...because you can't go anywhere in the mountains of Washington without finding a giant bigfoot statue somewhere.)

(front of the A-frame house buried in the ash)

(side of the A-frame house - it was really weird/cool to me to think that I'm standing on 6 feet of ash that has now just become the normal ground.)

(back of the A-frame house - I'm looking into the second floor because you can see into the bedroom and you can see just how quickly these people's lives were destroyed. The bedroom is still set up like people are living there...only now its covered in ash and rotting away.)

(Bigfoot drinking coffee because Bigfoot and coffee go hand in hand in Washington!)

(the edge of the blast zone...This is a new bridge built in place of the old bridge that was washed away from the mudslides caused by the eruption.)

(everything within the blast zone area was destroyed or drastically affected by the eruption)

(Me with Mt. St. Helens behind me to the right!)

(Mt. St. Helens -look closely and you'll see that everything around it is nothing but fields and fields of piles of ash)

(piles and piles of ash at the bottom of the mountain)

(looking into the crater of Mt. St. Helens...apparently the top of the mountain is right where the clouds are. It was amazing to me that almost the entire mountain was just literally blown away.)

(me and Mt. St. Helens)

(another one of Mt. St. Helens and the ash)

(this is a little hard to see but this is directly across from Mt. St. Helens...there is nothing but trees that were knocked down from the blast and ash. It looked like a nuclear wasteland.)

(It was hard to get a picture but this is a memorial to everyone who died during the eruption, with the mountain behind it.)

(another one of me and Mt. St. Helens)

(This is the reason why I am here spending one of our vacation days writing a blog post. This is Mr. V at the start of a really hard trail that goes up to the lowest point of the crater. He is hiking this as I type. I knew he'd want to do some crazy hike so I brought along stuff to entertain me for the day while he's off hiking. The park ranger told us that people who are afraid of heights and who don't have good balance aren't recommended to take this trail because it apparently gets pretty narrow and steep. Not exactly my cup of tea.)

(the reason why I am not hiking with Mr. V right now)

(total destruction)

(more fallen trees and ash)

(me sitting on a volcanic rock at Crystal Lake. The lake was formed during the eruption and all around it are piles of rock and ash. It was amazing to me to see the rocks because I can't even fathom the idea of the earth literally spitting out rocks this big - and this was one of the smaller ones.)

(a pile of ash and rocks at Crystal Lake)

So happy 4th of July everyone! Assuming that Mr. V makes it back from his hike in one piece then we'll be checking out the fireworks in this tiny town tonight!

MilSpouse Friday Fill-In #2

Second week of questions from Wife of a Sailor's MilSpouse Friday Fill-In:

1. Tell us about your dream job… one that you could do regardless of pay.

I want to be a Civil War historian. Yes I'm a huge history nerd and my dream job is to work at a National Park battlefield. Money would be the issue in the sense that a lot of those jobs are usually volunteer jobs, with the exception of a few low paying jobs. However, at the moment, location is my bigger issue since Civil War history doesn't exactly extend out to the Pacific Northwest.

2. What is your most prized material possession (kids and pets don’t count!)?

My pictures. I have several bookshelves full of picture albums and they mean the world to me. I've always said that if my house was on fire, my pictures would be the one thing I would save because they are irreplaceable. To me, pictures are more than just pictures. They are a full history of my life. They tell my story. And without them I feel like a piece of me is missing. From a historian perspective, history is only known through memories - mainly, stories and pictures. If that's missing, the history doesn't exist. I don't think there is any other material object that can be equal in importance to me.

3. What has been your favorite duty station and why?

Jacksonville, Florida (NAS JAX). Its been my favorite for a variety of reasons. First, its on the East Coast and one thing I have learned from moving around so much is that places like New Jersey, North Carolina, Georgia, etc are all very different, but at the same time there is an attitude and personality that seems to be in every East Coast person that just doesn't exist in places like Texas or Washington (and even Louisiana as is proven by my husband's complete lack of interest in anywhere on the East Coast). I don't know how to explain it exactly. All I know is that I have realized I can be comfortable and feel at home anywhere from Maine to Florida, but I don't feel that same comfort anywhere else. (Not to mention that Florida is overrun with people from New Jersey, so I have to admit that that is also an plus to the area for me.)

From a historical point of view (I'm on a history kick in this post if you can't tell), Jacksonville borders St. Augustine which is the oldest city in the nation. Anyone who has any interest in American history would be lying if they said that they didn't care about St. Augustine. Its such a great city full of history, plus I got married there :-).

4. What is your least favorite household chore?

I hate making the bed. Hate it. Absolutely hate it. I really don't know why, but I do. I hate remaking the bed after waking up, but I especially despise putting new sheets onto the bed. I've been known to pull out a blanket and just sleep on the mattress for a few days just to avoid making the bed.

5. If you could give one piece of advice to a teenager today (not specifically a MilTeen), what would it be?

Don't worry about what other people think! Thats all I worried about in high school, and while I wasn't a follower and I didn't go out of my way to be someone that I wasn't, I was very insecure because I didn't fit into that popular crowd. The stupid thing is that I never even wanted to be in that crowd, but I still felt insecure. Looking back now though, I had a small group of great friends, and those friends are still my friends today. I almost feel stupid when I look back and think about how much I cared about what others thought in high school, and I'm thankful that I never did compromise myself or "sell out" because I am happy with who I am and who I was.