We Don’t Need No Stinkin’ Maps!

Mt St Helens off in the distance

Day #13

I had a few epiphanies on Day #13.

First, people in Washington love to fish. Everywhere we went, everyone was fishing. I have no interest in fishing, but, fisher-people dotting the landscapes of every river, creek, pond, and lake, was kind of cool.

Second, there’s a metric ton of forests in Washington. There’s plenty of space for Sasquatch to roam about freely without being seen. But, what does he eat? And how does he breed? Is there just one of him? He’s always referred to as Big Foot. There is never any mention of Big Feet, as in, more than one of them. If there’s only one of him, and he doesn’t breed, then, is he just really really old? And then, getting back to a previous inquiry, what does he eat to stay alive for so long?

Third, when in the countryside/foresty parts of Washington, it’s probably a good idea to do some research first, or, at least, ask directions, prior to driving a long way on the wrong road.

We had taken this particular road towards Mt. St. Helens, ‘cause on the map, it looked like it went right by Mt. St. Helens…and it did. But we learned today, from the ranger, that it was the other side of Mt. St. Helens that had blown out in the eruption in 1980…not this side that we were on. Oh. Shoulda asked about that first.

The Space Shuttle…on the “wrong” side of Mt St Helens

We looked at some big posters on the wall in the ranger station, showing the eruption and blown-out side, and decided that was good enough. And we continued on our merry way on the road we had already committed to.

At least we got a great view of the non-traumatized side of Mt. St. Helens, from a great lookout point on Curly Creek Road. And we’d purchased a video from the ranger station, that we watched that night. It was as good as going to the proper side. Got to see everything on the video. Phew…saved ourselves a whole heck of a lot of driving!

I drove a good part of the way as we headed back towards Hood River, OR. The winding mountain roads were beautiful, as was the Jethro Tull music that we had blasting on the stereo. A perfectly sublime road trip moment. And I thought to myself, “Life doesn’t get much better than this!”