Brrrr, it's cold in Valdez

[dsprik]

Thanks, Steve! I was beginning to worry that I was the only one out there that liked going to some adventuresome places. Any other MOCs out there that think it be neat to be able to tell your grandchildren that you stradled the San Andreas fault, or stood on the rim of Mt St Helens????

And Judy... I warned you not to read that.

[adelmoll]

We were at Mt St. Helen about a month ago. You could see little puffs of smoke coming out. The Ranger told us that at night from even higher up you could see the red lava spitting like a fireworks display. I would have loved to see that but no way would I let Bill drive me up that mountain at night. It was the road that I was afraid of not the volcano. The Ranger told us that there wasn't enough oomph left in the center to cause the damage it did before. I would love to go to the Big Island of Hawaii and see what they show on the Travel Channel but after seeing the destruction from a small hurricane one time while in Florida (we thought it was a thunderstorm) I would not stay anywhere near the danger zone. Now I know we don't always get that much warning in a tornado I would do everything I could to get away if we were in the Montana. I will say that in our stick home in Minnesota when the siren went off we went down to the basement but watched from the patio door so we wouldn't miss anything. We were also known to open those doors and go outside just to make sure. How come I am so fascinated with that when I have to close my eyes going over the Going to the Sun Road??

[dsprik]

I have been on the Going to the Sun Highway as a teenager. I find it's best to go from west to east as you get the extra special privledge of being on the outside lane. You do find out if your adrenaline still works.

[Wordsmith]

Steve, Back in the 70s, this area of Georgia seemed to attract tornados for several years, but we have not seen any in this immediate area since. Marsha would have to disagree with you about wanting to see a tornado, though. Twice in those years I mentioned above, tornados came through where she grew up, doing damage to her parents' house and their vehicles. One damaged the roof with water damage inside and another picked up her father's work truck which was parked in the front yard and plopped it down in his back pasture. To this day, understandably, she has strong negative reactions to any storm.

[vickir]

Dave ... we actually have "straddled" the San Andreas Fault. The last time we were in California we visited some friends near San Juan Bautista. The Fault runs right next to the mission there.

And, as luck would have it, our "home base" in Independence, Mo about 500 miles from New Madrid, Missouri and it's claim-to-fame, the New Madrid Fault. Oh, and did I mention I'm from Southern California ... land of the earthquakes! And we lived in Topeka, Kansas ... in tornado alley ... for almost 27 years.

After seeing what the Mt. Saint Helen eruption did to the landscape and reading about what happened to so many people during the eruption, I definitely do not want to stand on the rim of any volcano.

Quite frankly, that's about all the "adventure" (at least the kind that Mother Nature dishes out) I'm wanting to experience.

[dsprik]

That is really great that you and Steve have experienced all of those spots. I can't wait to check some out starting next spring.
Dave

[sreigle]

Dave, they're not going to let you stand on the rim of Mt. St. Helens unless you can arrange some kind of special tour. You will have a great view from about 5 miles away, though. Be sure to discuss with the Ranger about David Johnson, a geologist who stood on that very spot where the visitors center is and reported "this is it!". That was the last they heard from him. The blast blew directly to where that visitors center is. You also see the lake from there that Harry Truman, the guy who ran an inn or B&B or resort or something refused to leave, saying there couldn't possibly be enough magma to reach that far.... He's still under there somewhere.

This was taken from the Visitors Center.

[dsprik]

That's an incredible pic Steve! Did you take that? Just think how much larger that mountain use to be! I knew you couldn't get closer than the the 5 mile away observation post... I don't think you can, can you?