Monday August 3, 2009

This morning after a great breakfast at the motel in Morton, we headed toward the east and into the Pinchot National Forest. We took a wrong turn and ended up on Mount Saint Helens once again...this time from the north east. The last time was from the west toward the Johnson Observatory. This time we ended up at the windy peaks and stopped at a visitor center on the way up.. The views of the mountain at that angle are spectacular and the wild flowers are magnificent. We saw Spirit Lake for the first time: it is filled on one end with ash and tree trunks, but the other end is blue and beautiful. Scientists are tracking it to see how it is coming back to life after 29 years. We took lots of pictures....here I made a bouquet for you all from pine cones and wild flowers. When I was a little girl I used to go out into the farm fields and pick the wild flowers and bring my mommy a bouquet. So here's one for you all. After we got through looking we headed toward the town of Cougar and stopped at a park and played dominoes and Farkel. There was a group of ~30 high school kids and camp counselors there playing games. We had as much fun watching them as they had playing. One game was volleyball, playing with balls covered in shaving cream. That was sight to behold! It just flew in every direction. The next game they played, they had to choose three teams that were labeled "intelligence", "personality" and "Strength". Once they got their teams of 10 each, they lined up and the counselors took a seat in a camp chair about thirty feet away on the grass. One kid with envelopes with directions in each one, handed the envelope to the first kids, one at a time, to race there. Once the kid finished with his task in the envelope, he ran to the back of the line and the next kid ran up and got his envelope. They first tied the camp counselor to their chairs with a rope. Then they blindfolded each one, then they fed them different food items...chocolate, bananas, etc and the first team to get finished with all their directions in the envelope was the winner. Strength won. It was funny to watch. One counselor said "I want to thank whoever it was that poured that chocolate down the front of my blouse." I overheard one say "That was gross" and I'm not sure what it was that went into his mouth at that point. Anyway, we had a good time and are in the town of Woodland Washington this evening. Nighty night. WLY m and d, gpa, and gma, ggpa and ggma.