More on MSH

Just for perspective, this is Mt. St. Helens, before,

and after.

Can you believe "only" 57 people were killed? Not to make light of their lives, but - really - look at how much of the mountain is missing, and then check out this (short) video.

Really, click HERE and I'll wait.

The series of photos at the beginning just take my breath away. Although the mountain looks black, most of what you see in the photos is snow and glaciers, covered with dirty ash. When the earthquake collapsed the north side of the mountain, an unbelievable amount of snow was instantly melted, causing a huge, hot mudflow. Part of the reason the volcano erupted so explosively was much of that ice and snow flashing instantly into steam.

If you ever have the chance to visit the area, DO IT.

There are three visitors centers - one to the west near I-5, and two up the highway near the mountain. (Although I've heard that the most impressive, the Johnston Ridge Observatory, has been closed. You can still drive up there, but can't get in the building. Too bad!) Just outside the park, Weyerhaeuser's Forest Learning Center had a ton of hands-on stuff for the kids, and several herds of elk tend to 'hang around' in plain view, below in the valley.

Of course, all the government-run centers have a heavy-handed, preachy, environmental message. However, some friends had told us about the 7 Wonders Museum - a creation-science counter-point to the "party line".

What a great place! Lloyd and Doris Anderson operate a wonderful resource. They have a well-stocked bookstore, lots of pictures, a view of the mountain - on clear days, examples of different kinds of rocks (collected outside the park,) of which he freely gave samples - much appreciated, since collecting anything is forbidden in the park. (Don't even get me started... 110,000 acres and umpteen bazillion tons of material blasted into the stratosphere, and kids are not allowed to pick up rocks... because, you know, we'd be disturbing Mother Nature, or the goddess, or gaia, or whatever. Not even a designated area for picking up rocks.)

But I digress... if you're going to Mt. St. Helens, don't miss the 7 Wonders Museum. Let them know you're coming and they'll host you in fine style. Lloyd gave our family a personal presentation. We had prepared the boys (and ourselves) before our visit by researching the events leading up to the eruption and the effects afterward, which was very helpful.

Lloyd talked kind of fast, being very passionate about the subject, and gave quite a bit of technical information. The boys were 6, 8, and 11 at the time, and I wondered if they were "getting it". Shouldn't have worried. As we left, Tate said to me, "Mom, I found that quite interesting because it was a Christian way of telling it, so I didn't have to ignore any of it... like how old stuff is."