Ashford, WA

Thursday, October 10

Brrr! It was 29 degrees outside when we woke this morning in Castle Rock, Washington. The floor of our RV was ice cold. Winter is coming! We’ve been watching the weather forecast to find the perfect window of time to travel east across Washington, Montana, the Dakota’s, Minnesota and finally Wisconsin in the coming week. Andi and I decided we’d rather see all that we can see in Washington and then high-tail it back home before the weather sets in.

This morning, Andi made breakfast while the Tory, Aden and I did school. Andi turned on the RV and ran the defrost to warm up our front window so we’d be able to see out our front window later this morning. (We don’t have an ice scraper in the RV — oops!)

After breakfast, Andi moved the RV over to the propane fill station at the KOA while the kids ran inside to play with their Texas friends in the clubhouse. Tory and Aden did not want to leave today — they wanted to stay and play with their new friends — but that dreaded feeling of “we need to be somewhere” was starting to set in for Andi and I as we were due back in Wisconsin one week from today.

One of the places on my “must see” list while traveling in Washington was Mount Saint Helens. I remember learning about the 1980 eruption in grade school and being so fascinated by it. The fact that we were here — at the base of the volcano in Castle Rock, Washington — meant that we were for sure heading to the visitor’ center today to learn more.

For the most impactful experience, visitors can drive up the mountain to see the devastation the eruption caused and the beginning of nature’s revitalization. For timing reasons, Andi and I decided we’d visit the Mount Saint Helens national monument instead to watch the video, see the exhibits and let the kids earn a Junior Ranger badge. The visitor center costs $8/person to go inside, but Andi and I felt it was a good way to support the monument.

We started in on our Junior Ranger packets right away (or, Junior Geologists packets as they’re called at Mount Saint Helens National Monument — which Tory, our future geologist, loved!).Andi and I paired up with each Tory and Aden and explored the exhibits to answer the questions in the booklet. We also watched a 20-minute video about the eruption in the theatre. Tory was so moved by the 1980’s footage of the eruption, she asked to watch the movie twice.

This is a picture of Mount Saint Helens pre-eruption:

This is a picture of the volcano post-eruption:

The human interest stories of lives lost, homes destroyed and environmental impacts were incredible to comprehend.

Toward the end of our visit, Tory and Aden submitted there Junior Geologist packets and earned their badges in a swearing-in ceremony. They both asked the park geologist some great questions, like “Why wasn’t the lava red?”

We said good-bye to the city of Castle Rock and Mount Saint Helens, and continued onto our next destination: Mount Rainier. We had about a 1 1/2 hour drive ahead of us. Along the drive, we stopped in the town of Chehalis for groceries.

That evening, Andi booked us a campsite at Mounthaven Resort near the southwest entrance to Mount Rainier National Park. It was dark by the time we arrived and difficult to see what the surrounding area looked like, but the campground itself was well cared for and secluded.

I prepared (and Andi grilled) a pork tenderloin for dinner & I also made pulled pork in the Instant Pot for future lunches since we had full hook-ups (water/electric) at this campsite. It’s like playing Jenga cooking inside the RV because there’s limited counter space and few utensils. We try to utilize outdoor cooking/grilling whenever possible and prep multiple meals at once when we can, so we’re not constantly cooking and cleaning up this tiny kitchen area. Tory wanted to help with dinner tonight, so she tossed together the salad we ate for dinner along with the pork.

Outside the RV, Andi and Aden built a campfire. We decided to eat dinner around the fire (in the dark!) instead of eating at the dining table inside the RV which proved to be a little challenging, but fun nonetheless.

After dinner, Tory wrote in our RV travel journal about our experience at Mount Saint Helens today. The national monument really had an impact on her. She couldn’t stop talking about the man who lived on Spirit Lake and died because he refused to leave his home.

Tomorrow, we’re excited to explore Mount Rainier National Park.