Beyond Here

Our second day in Seattle, we headed to Mount St. Helens or as the Native Indians call it, Loowit - Lady of Fire. Riffe Lake - on way to St. Helens Sunit and I were both excited. We had first heard about St. Helens in October 2004 when it was all over the news - apparently the mountain was spewing up gas and debri again after a span of almost 25 years. People from all over the country were travelling to see if St. Helens would erupt again. The last time it had erupted in 1980, the whole north side of the mountain had disintegrated and flown down, burning the surrounding forests, killing about 1.5 million animals and 57 people in an already evacuated area. We were glad we had planned to visit the mountain on the day the Johnston Ridge Observatory (closest to the mountain) was due to open for the season. The Observatory is but 5.5 miles from the mountain. We drove on towards the mountain. At the lower reaches, we could see forests with fairly young trees and occasional signboards indica...

View of the drive to Mount Rainier On our first morning in Seattle, a clear sunny day, we set off for THE mountain in the area - Mount Rainier. Alder Lake - Comes on way to Rainier Mount Rainier is the 5th oldest Natinal Park in United States. It is classified as one of the most seismically active volcano in the Cascade Range, second to only Mount St. Helens I guess. National Park Entrance It was easy to catch glimpses of the mountain from far off. Its height (14400 ft approx) is not much compared to Mount Everest (29000 ft approx). The reason it stands out is because the surrounding peaks and areas are not comparable in height. So it looks like this gargantuan presence standing above everything else in the skyline of Western Washington. First glimpse of the mountain Plus it is spanked by glaciers on all sides, actually about 36 miles of glaciers cover the mountain. These glacial valleys further cause the mountain to look even grander. One good thing is that Mt. Rainier has not been co...

Sunit and I just got back from a week long trip to Seattle. And what a trip it was. We were lucky to experience sunny weather for the most part of the trip. Days were just beginning to warm up and there were practically no summer crowds yet. Everything was green and the snow was just beginning to melt in the mountains so there were a lot of snow capped peaks to see, and numerous waterfalls had appeared and were really full. We got to visit 4 National Parks around Seattle and a day trip to Victoria to see the Butchart gardens. And the last day we saw some of the downtown areas of Seattle. The Seattle skyline on a cloudy day The city itself has a fairly small downtown - few blocks and you can walk it all on foot. And there is always this towering presence of mountains all around, especially Mt Rainier which is a permanent fixture of the skyline on any clear day. The Space Needle The Space Needle stands tall and elegant, a little apart from the downtown and provides wonderful views of the...