2018...the song remains the same

Well actually...I think that it may be impossible to hear Whitney Houston without seeing Riley "singing" (and I use that term cautiously) that song ever again :) This year saw 49 students come along on our Thirteenth consecutive trip to Mount Saint Helens. There were lots of highlights this year and a few changes. Mr A and I were really happy to welcome Monique Wilford to join us this year!

Once again we chose to travel on the I-5 through Seattle on Thursday, but we left at 7:30 in the morning to make a 10:15 ferry out of Duke Point. Why the change? We decided to make the Seattle Museum of Popular Culture a Thursday afternoon stop (rather than a Saturday afternoon stop). Part of the reason for this was to deal with the vagaries of mountain weather...let me explain. If we went to the JRO early on Saturday morning, so that we could make the MoPop by 3 pm Saturday, we would probably not get a chance to see the mountain. I've already documented the challenges with clouds in May at Mount Saint Helens, so a later arrival means the sun has a better chance to burn off what's there. So we figured an early Thursday departure would mean a 3 pm arrival in Seattle for 2 hours at MoPop (they're only open till 5 pm when we're there and the next weekend - Memorial Day in the USA - they begin summer hours and are open till 7 pm). So an amazingly quick brush through US customs put us on the road and things were fine until about Pinehurst/Northgate at which point the I-5 turned into a parking lot. We should've taken the 99 in from Mountlake Terrace (a straight shot down to Seattle Center and the MoPop) but alas we ended up with just shy of an hour for MoPop with the Marvel Exhibit as the main draw.

Again I keep forgetting the cultural geography component of the trip. One word...Target. The Target experiment failed miserably in Canada but the kids still wistfully remember it here in town, so when we get to Kelso for our second night it's always Target and Red Lobster as a priority for the group. Continuing with the nerdy MoPop theme Mr. A. took a bunch of the group (like 2/3s) to the movie theatre to watch Deadpool on Friday night too. Grocery food was also a highlight as there are always things we cannot pick up at home that show up on the bus...yep that was Pina Colada Oreo Thins that showed up this year.

As for the mountain? It was another partially obscured view this year but it never fails to impress. Often I heard students remark on the size, beauty and awe of the place. The first hand views of the pumice plain and summit caldera were totally worth the hike out on the trail of destruction - even if you forgot to put on sunscreen for a hike at an altitude of 4000 feet above sea level. Lots of questions...lots of photos...lots of fun!