Hoquiam River
Just as we began our southward migration through Washington, the weather turned really bad. The rainy days continued as we drove down the coast to our planned overnight stop at Hoquiam River, just off the coast in the southwestern corner of the state. One night turned into six as major storms hit, and we pulled in the slides and dropped the satellite dish to wait it out. We canceled our stop at Astoria because winds were even worse there, and we were bummed that we missed our favorite fish and chips in the whole world at Bowpicker. We’d been waiting for weeks to have them again – darn!
“Baldy” keeps an eye on Hoquiam River during the storm
To keep us entertained and busy, we made a bunch of lumpia for future happy hours. So when any of you meet up with us down the road be sure to ask about the stash in our freezer!
No campfire in this pit today!
During every break in the weather we drove 20 miles to the beach to hear the pounding waves, breath the ocean air – and buy some more seafood! When we learned that the Quinalt Casino offered an all-you-can-eat Dungeness crab dinner buffet, we just had to partake in that as well. It was one of the best casino buffets we’ve had.
These hard-core clammers weren’t bothered by the weather or the huge waves
That’s an angry sea!
My only hike for the week
Since we can’t seem to get enough of this crustacean, we bought even more for our own crab feast at home. I have to admit we did overindulge, but we were trapped in Dungeness crab heaven and I totally blame the storm for it!
We were fortunate that the towns of Hoquiam and Ocean Shores were spared from the brunt of the storm, and the only inconvenience we felt was being cramped with our slides in for several days.
We heaved a sigh of relief when the rains stopped
Windy Ridge, Mount St Helens
We resumed our travels and made one last stop in Washington, at Silver Lake. We got along so well with Bob and Dee Dee at Puerto Peñasco, Mexico last February that we went out of our way to stop by their beautiful property for a visit. We gladly accepted their invitation to snuggle Betsy into the full hookup site right on their property for a couple of nights.
Where else would we celebrate our first meal together then at an excellent Mexican restaurant, the perfect place to reminisce about good times in Mexico.
Betsy’s looking good parked in front of their beautiful shop – and the price was right!
Bob and Dee Dee live near Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Monument, which we visited in 2012. But this time they graciously drove us around to the northeast side of the volcano, often referred to as the Windy Ridge side. It lived up to its name on this cold and blustery day.
We watched a helicopter haul cut boughs for Christmas decorations and drop them near a waiting truck
The drive to Windy Ridge is a winding trek through the blast zone, and is the best location from which to view the devastation of the eruption that occurred on May 18, 1980. We saw clear evidence of the blast’s full impact. And despite the biting wind we climbed hundreds of steps up the hill to one of the best vantage points around.
We read that there were 361 steps to the top
Views from the summit of Windy Ridge trail:
Looking directly into Mount St. Helen’s crater just five miles away
A pumice plain created by ash and pumice that flowed from the crater
Spirit Lake’s immense floating forest left from the 1980 eruption
Blasted trees have remained untouched since the eruption
Thanks Deedee for capturing our wind blown ‘do’s
It might have been a gray day, but we were fortunate to get such clear views of the volcano and surrounding mountains:
Mount Adams stands 32 miles to the east
Mount Hood is the tallest mountain in Oregon, and we could see it from 62 miles away
The foursome with Mount St. Helens in the background
We had a wonderful time and really enjoyed Bob and Deedee’s hospitality. Thanks guys, see you at Puerto Peñasco next February – the first Margarita is on us!
Next up: Beautiful Bend, OR
