a gorgeous day

Some pictures from the trip to Mt. St Helens.  This is the Toutle river valley which 30 years ago was a wasteland of mud and ash.  There are now vigorous forests of red alder and doug fir just a couple years from harvest.







This has been a long, cold spring, and there was stil snow at the Johnson Ridge Observatory.  The day before summer starts.  The So.Cal lads needed their picture taken with snow in June.

Handsome  - eh?

Today, we drove down the Columbia River Gorge.  It's scenic in crappy weather, but today was stunning.

 See the buikding on the promotory to the right here?  It looks sort of like a grey cherry on the cupcake?

 Here it is close up.  This is the Vista Huse at Crown Point, built nearly 100 years ago. 

Here are my three handsome escorts again.

 Then we drove down off the rim of the Gorge and began enjoying waterfalls. 

And more waterfalls.  This is Bridal Veil Falls.  We took the trail down 1/3 of a mile to view it.  Somehoe, the easy stroll down became a punishment march about 50 miles long on the way up.  Subjective time and distance is so unpredictable.

I like this shot I caught of the brothers.

We went to Bonneville dam and took the test to become junior rangers in the construction corps.   We counted fish climbing the ladders, and we went to the hatchery and saw the sturgeon.  Photos do not do them justice.  The look like some plated escapee from the Paleolithic, and the big ones at the hatchery were about 8 feet long!

When we got back I had a follow-up visit at the fracture clinic.  I am giving myself flowers here to cheer myself up.  Looks like I have to have surgery after all.  Thursday I get a plate and screws in my wrist. Oh sigh.  At least it's my left hand, I'm not pregnant, and no one is shooting at me.  Life could  be a hell of a lot worse.