Mount St. Helens

On the last day of our tour, we disembarked our ship and drove a little ways to the Mount St. Helen's information center to learn about the deadliest and most economically destructive volcanic event in U.S. history.

The area around the visitor center is lush and green and was the perfect place for us to stretch our legs a bit before heading into the museum.

The Mount St. Helen's visitor center is fascinating, it includes a timeline of events leading up to the eruption on May 18, 1980 as well as a large, step-in model of the volcano, which shows it's different geological layers.

We watched a film that talks about the events of May 19, 1980 as well as the aftermath of the eruption. Fifty-seven people were killed; 250 homes, 47 bridges, 15 miles of railways, and 185 miles  of highway were destroy.

 83 year old Harry R. Truman, who had lived near the mountain for 54 years, became famous when he decided not to evacuate before the impending eruption, despite repeated pleas by local authorities. His body was never found after the eruption.

After touring through the visitors center, we ventured out to the viewing platform to attempted to get a glimpse at the infamous crater that was left behind after the 1980 eruption. Being in Washington, the crater is often covered by low hanging clouds, as was the case for the entirety of our visit.

The areas around the viewing platform were dotted with brightly colored wildflowers, I decided to take a little stroll along some of their walking trails after I had lost hope of actually getting to see the crater. 

The next day, when we flew home, we had perfect views of Mount St. Helens as we flew above the clouds.