We put the RV into drive and left Seattle for the last time with the late Spring sun finally in our eyes as we took the I-5 south. Our initial plan last Sunday was to head to Olympic National Park and then onto our first RV park by Mt. St. Helen's. We stopped at a Shell and obtained some insider information for the sales assistant and she recommended going to the RV park as Sunday traffic can get very heavy and then head back up to Olympic NP on the Monday.
So we took part of her advice on board and just scrapped Olympic altogether. There are going to be much more spectacular places to be seen along the route so neither of us were too bothered by this slight change of plan. So we got to the RV park and plugged in to our hook up and got cooking the barbeque for dinner. The sun was setting as the food was cooking and it was a great setting for the first cooked meal in our new home.
We had incredibly fast broadband at the park so we "obtained" some shows that we had been missing, most noteably 24. We watched this before heading off to bed.
The next morning brought more clear skies and we filled up our van with fresh water and headed for Mt. St. Helens. We went to the only open visitor centre at this time of the year and were told we couldn't actually reach the crater as the road was still closed for winter. We could reach a viewpoint that enabled us to see part of the crater but not the whole way in. I thought this a bit strange and we headed off up the route on our merry ways.
And what a route it was! Have a look here at the photos of the various places along the way. I couldn't believe it as we got closer to the crater how much snow was still on the road. It got so thick that there was only one lane to go up and down. At this stage Emer got a little worried that we wouldn't be able to turn around. Thankfully, at the last open viewpoint the road was wide enough to allow us to turn the van around. Not before taking a picture on top of knee deep snow in front of Mt. St. Helens. Notice how much of the top of the mountain is missing. This was blown off with the force off the last eruption which took place in 1980. Unbelievable.
We then drove back to the I5 and headed south on the I5 towards Portland. We had a quick stop off at a rest area to have some dinner and ended up staying the night as it seemed an ideal place. And it was, I reckon we will be making use of these places in the coming days and weeks.
Tuesday brought the Historic Columbia River Highway drive. Another drive with spectacular scenery that only photos can attempt to do justice to. Glacial erosion has carved a massive U-shaped valley that the Columbia river now runs through west of Portalnd. There is an old highway that runs along this seperate to the big freeway and along it there are various scenic areas and viewing points. The most amazing of these is without doubt the Multnomah Falls. We then did a bit of shopping and finally picked up good quality hiking boots which will hopefully be a sound investment for the coming months. The plan is to get onto Highway 101 and take it south all the way to Southern California. Watch this space.....
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