(And just a quick note about the pictures... So I actually purchased a refurbished Canon DSLR camera prior to these two weeks. A Canon Rebel EOS 600D T3i, if you were curious. But it didn't arrive before my first trip up to Longview, WA. So I made do with my Canon Powershot S3 IS and my iPhone 4S camera for that week. Once I got back from WA, the majority of the pictures after that were taken with my new camera.)
So to begin, as many of you may know, I travel quite a bit for work. Just this year for example, I've had the privilege to visit such places as Syracuse NY, Santa Monica CA, Sandpoint ID, Dayton OH, Denver CO and Indianapolis IN just to name a few. So it was no real surprise that I had a trip up to Longview WA scheduled the week before I was to go on vacation back to Murfreesboro TN in late July. Perhaps a little annoying, but not surprising. Anyway, I decided even though my new camera wasn't going to arrive in time I still wanted to see some of the sights in the area, especially Mount St Helens...
And see it I did. Wow! It was such a surreal experience. In fact it brought back memories of the first time I saw the Grand Canyon as a little kid. It completely took your breath away and made you almost doubt your eyes that what you were looking at could possibly be real. And so I decided, this wasn't a moment to be wasted, and I was fortunate enough to find another photographer there willing to take my picture with my camera with the volcano in the background...
Perhaps it wasn't the wisest decision in hindsight to be leaning against a wooden rail like that with a huge drop-off just beyond it. But I wasn't really thinking about that at the time.
But that wasn't all there was to see, oh no, far from it. One of the things I noticed as I was driving the last few miles to the lookout point was how many white stumps were sticking up from the ground amongst the greenery. And though this next picture doesn't quite do it justice, it should hopefully give you an idea.
Sadly, Spirit Lake was hardly visible from where I was and I didn't have the time to make the long hike over to see it. However, one other thing that really completed the picture of what incredible force was caused by the eruption was the hillside littered with white tree trunks, still left there after all these years.
And getting away from the incredible scenery for a bit, there were other things that I as a 'city boy' don't see every day. In this instance seeing the wildlife in that area was absolutely fascinating to me...
First off, a family of little chipmunks, that were nice enough to pose for me. ;)
And then, a few hummingbirds happened to be flitting around nearby, though they weren't nearly as photogenic as the chipmunks...
Sadly, this was the only picture of one of the hummingbirds that really turned out at all. But the chipmunk decided to come over and pose for me one last time even closer up.
And as if that wasn't enough, as I was leaving to head back, this absolutely gorgeous sunset greeted me as if to wish me a fond farewell...
Overall, I couldn't have asked for a lovelier or more picturesque afternoon/evening to visit.
But that was only the first day...
The next evening I decided, at a friend's suggestion, to drive in the opposite direction from the previous day towards the Oregon coast and the towns of Astoria and Seaside.
The first stop of the evening was at the Astoria Column, which looked almost like a lighthouse overlooking the town of Astoria, the Columbia River and the Oregon coastline.
The view of the town, the bridge and the coastline with the sunset coming on was breathtaking to behold.
And while I was up there enjoying the view, another fellow with a camera commented to me that if I had a good lens, there was a deer that had wandered out onto the grass just below the tower.
Thankfully my above average point and shoot camera had a pretty good zoom on it and I was able to get a couple fairly good shots of the deer from the high vantage point.
The reason why I was in such a hurry was because the sunset was already starting to develop and I wanted to get down to the city of Seaside prior to losing my opportunity to photo shoot it. And somehow I happened upon a beach, coincidentally named Sunset Beach and there spent the next hour or two with my camera enjoying the sunset.
It was such a lovely evening to just sit and bask in the beauty of what unfolded before me.
Unfortunately, that was the end of the pictures for that week as the next evening was spent visiting friends I hadn't seen in probably 10 years, that I had actually kind of forgotten lived in that area. I will get to Part 2 of this story, where I visited Oakland for a day and spent a week in Tennessee on vacation, hopefully later this week sometime.
Until then, thanks for stopping by!
The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Ps 19:1 (ESV)
