Mount St.Helens

 On May 18, 1980 this mountain exploded in a blast that was over 500-times greater than the bomb that dropped on Hiroshima, Japan during World War 11.  Before that date Mount St.Helens in southwestern Washington was considered to be one of the most beautiful mountains in the world.  It was judged to be a young and active volcano with a nearly perfect cone. That information I obtained from a very beautiful book distributed by Impact printing, the title of which is Volcano Mount St. Helens.  Also another interesting piece of information is that before the eruption the mountain stood at 9,677 feet and currently its height is 8,365 feet. There were rumblings coming from the mountain prior to its eruption, which may explain why a vulcanologist, David Johnston, was standing on the north ridge in front of of the mountain before it blew. He was one  of the 57 people killed in that initial blast from the mountain.

This is how the mountain looks today.  Our family group stood for awhile at the Johnston Ridge Observatory (named for the vulcanologist who died at this ridge).  It was impressive looking at the valley below, as well as the lakes in the distance- trying to imagine how it all looked before the mountain blew.  John and I have visited this area several times since 1980.  The first time (several months after the initial blast) I remember seeing a burned out car still sitting by the side of the road, as well as large swaths of burned forests with only a few tree trunks still standing.  Within three minutes the landslide from the blast scorched 230 square miles of forest, toppling and removing many trees.  Parts of Eastern Washington, Idaho and Montana were covered with layers of ash.  Day turned into night in the affected areas.

The stumps pictured above are all that is left of many of the 150-foot- tall trees, some of which were quite ancient.

The burned trees are still lying around,  but the scene of desolation now has the promise of new life with the forest growing back.

One of the first wildflowers to appear after a fire is the fireweed- that red flower pictured above.

Standing on the north ridge we were able to view the Toutle River Valley.  On that fateful day hundreds of feet of rock and debris filled its north fork, burying 14 miles of the river and its tributaries.  Rain, snow melt, and a mud flow from an eruption in 1982 carved new channels in the valley.  Part of the initial landslide surged into Spirit Lake, raising it about 200 feet.  Coldwater, Spirit, Silver, and Castle lakes were all changed or formed that day in 1980 from the eruption of the mountain.

                                          

There were a selection of trails we could have taken from the observatory, John and I chose the lake path.  Others of our group took a more challenging one- the hummock trail.  Hummocks are intact pieces of the mountain which were carried off in the landslide and still litter the valley floor today.  Along our lake path I noticed an interpretive sign which said that  "these lakes show that life quickly responds to natural changes on the earth's surface".  Mount Saint Helens was changed a lot in 1980, but natural beauty still can be found in the hillsides, lakes and valley surrounding it.

Lohrmann Reunion

 Our reunion this year took place at Silver Cove resort, which is located about 134 miles south of Seattle, Washington.  To be more precise, it is near Silver Lake and the town of Castle Rock.  Our family had plans to meet last year (we meet every three years) but the pandemic toppled those plans.  Our last reunion was in Colorado in 2017, and we had a wonderful turnout for that of about 80 plus family members.  Keep in mind that I have 9 siblings, and that can be rapidly multiplied when marriages happen and babies enter the bigger picture!

My husband John (pictured above in the foreground) has adapted well into family over the years, and that is remarkable given he has only one sibling and four nieces!  The picture above gives you an idea of the cabins which most of us stayed in during the reunion.  

We always come up with some tee shirt to commemorate our reunions, they are a great reference as to what state we were in and when for each reunion.  By the way, our reunions over the years have taken place in Maine, Missouri, Minnesota, Kentucky, Michigan, Oregon and Washington twice.  This year our niece Cheryl and daughter-in-law Amanda worked on tie-dye shirts for everyone to wear.  Blue hands marked those working on that project!

Devotion time is important to our family group.  We even tote around a couple boxes of song books to aid us in that worship time.  As children family devotions were held frequently after supper, we have kept that tradition alive during our reunions over the years. Fellowship time usually follows after that time into the wee hours of the morning (for only a smaller number of us).  And generally there is a blazing fire and s'mores to add to the fun.

Some of our group took a hike around Silver Lake, the largest natural lake within a radius of hundreds of miles (according to an interpretive sign).  It also supports at least 70 species of plants which thrive in the shallow waters.

The nearest town to our resort is the town of Castle Rock.  It was named for a large rock towering above the Cowlitz River at 900 feet.  It was a landmark in the early 1800s for the Cowlitz Indians as well as for the Hudson Bay fur traders.  John and I spent some time walking around the town while one of our flat tire was getting repaired.  I was amazed at all the pots of flowering plants which literally covered the town, in front of many homes as well as businesses.  As I was snapping pictures a man came up to me and introduced himself as a member of the Chamber of Commerce.  He was wondering about what I liked about the town.  After I informed him that I was thrilled with the presence of all the flowers in the town he replied that they were a "Bloom" city.  The town received that honor because of its many flowers, benches and murals.  The town of Castle Rock calls itself the "Gateway to St.Helens".  Our family group planned that as an outing which we could do as a group together on the second day of our reunion week.  More on that in my next posting.

Rose Spire wildflower

Our Final Day on the Road, for awhile

 Lewiston, Idaho was our stop for the night on Saturday.  Sunday morning found us looking for breakfast in Clarkston, Washington.  It took me some time to muse on that- like, oh, Lewis and Clark!  

It was somewhere in modern day Washington that Lewis and Clark made it to the Pacific Ocean.  I have not pursued finding out the details, whether they traversed via the Snake or Columbia rivers.  That statue I happened to see as we were leaving Clarkston.  Anyway, back to our breakfast stop in Clarkston.   We were informed that the best place to eat was at Hazel's Good Eats, and that we could easily find it because there was a chicken figure outside of the place.  We looked for a big chicken to greet us as we headed down the road.  No big chicken or rooster seen.  I pulled out my trusty intelligent phone for directions.  Surprise,surprise- I was looking for the wrong chicken!

Now how could we have seen that chicken just driving by,  much less the larger rooster pecking on the ground?  We had a good breakfast there, however.  Another humorous note regarding this restaurant- the restrooms were labeled "eggs" and "sausages".

The above picture is so characteristic of what we viewed driving through the Palouse Valley of Washington; gentle rolling hills covered with wheat.  Wheat is one of the most lucrative crops of southeast Washington.

The most wonderful part of our journey that Sunday was driving through the canyon of the Columbia River Gorge.   This 80 miles of the Columbia River has the greatest concentration of waterfalls in North America.  We have driven through of  here at least once previously and we had seen Multnomah Falls, one the more notable waterfalls in the canyon.  So, given our time constraint, it was necessary not to follow the signs directing us to any waterfalls.  

Above is again one of the sights of the Columbia River.  At this eastern edge of the gorge it is a drier area, as noted by the sagebrush.  Generally most of the river's edge has beautiful lush green foliage. We followed the river into Portland Oregon, and from there we drove south to Silver Lake. We made it to the reunion in time to eat a late supper with our extended family.  A plan was made for our group to visit Mt. St. Helens in two days.  A day of rest was first needed most certainly!

Traveling West through Idaho

 We had just started in Idaho on Saturday and realized we still had to pass through it, as well as Oregon and Washington to make the family reunion in Washington by Sunday evening.  It was quite fortunate that we had made motel reservations for each night, so the miles that were necessary to cover each day had been all figured into our goal of making it to the reunion in time.  

 

We continued to view mountains as we drove on the Sawtooth Mountain Scenic Byway.  And driving through the Ponderosa Pine Scenic Byway we saw a sobering reminder of the devastation of forest fires.  It seemed to us that what we were viewing was a fairly recent forest fire, although probably not of this year.  We did experience smoky skies and air later in parts of Oregon, Washington and Montana.

 

                                       

At the border between Idaho and Oregon we saw signs for Hell's Canyon.  We were tempted to check it out.  Seemed a very unwise thing to do, given it was late Saturday afternoon.  So we took the Seven Devils access drive, which was a gravel road.  Another mistake there, but we had read that the canyon had the deepest river gorge in the United States and was 2,000 higher than the Grand Canyon.  Also that the Snake River running through it was world famous for its white water rafting.  Seemed important enough to check out.  We reached a mile 7 marker, stopped and pondered what to do next.  A group of people ( I would say they were about our age, maybe a bit younger) came toward us on several all terrain vehicles.  They came from a campground which was atop the canyon.  We asked how much further we had to go to reach the top of the canyon.  They said we still had about 12 miles to go yet, and encourage us to keep going.  There was no way that we wanted to go any further because of the rocky road!  We decided instead to head back down and stop where we could to view the canyon. 

                                          

There were no scenic overlooks on this road through the canyon, we just pulled off the road wherever there were breaks in the trees lining the road.  We were most certainly on the wrong road to access the canyon!  Coming off Seven Devils road we came to Half Way to Heaven Lane and I chuckled, are we talking heaven or hell here?  There is also a Hell's Gate State Park in the area.   Any which way anyone would choose to view it, any natural scenic area is certainly heaven to me.  Researching the canyon later I learned that the earliest white settlers called it Hell's Canyon because they unsuccessfully tried to tame the Snake river which flowed through it..

                                         

   Shortly after leaving Hell's Canyon I saw a interesting roadside sign:  "Salmon lives matter, give a dam".   There were also signs directing us to Riggins, Idaho- "White water capital of the world".  However, we headed to Lewiston Oregon, our stop for the night. We arrived there rather late, but it had been another interesting day on our way west.

 

Westward Ho

 John and I just completed a 5,000 mile road trip across the western half of our country.  This was planned for last year, but the pandemic took care of that.  We have been vaccinated, but still Covid-19 remained a bit of concern for us, especially with the new variant of the virus picking up speed.  I was a bit relived, when  after returning home, we passed the twelfth day and showed no symptoms.  We are not so concerned for ourselves because we are well covered by the vaccine, but we want to be careful for our grandchildren.  Anyway, we left home on July 12 with our first goal to attend John's 50th college reunion at Concordia University located in Seward Nebraska.  We spent a couple of days there attending a few planned activities which culminated with a banquet the last evening.  I can only say one thing on that experience, and that is that the school has changed a lot over those 50 years, and has been quite successful in that growth!

Our next goal, after leaving Seward was the Lohrmann family reunion in the state of Washington.  We had about 4 days to travel through 5 states.  Our first scenic stop was in the Pine Bluffs area of Wyoming.  An interpretive sign explained that the beautiful ridges and draws of the bluffs had been created over millions of years of weathering.  Their capstone of sandstone and clay stone slowly collapsed over the years because of the soft clay underneath.

The picture above gives you an idea of what we saw looking down from one of the rock precipices of the bluff area.  The interpretive sign indicated that the forests here were of mountain mahogany, as well as ponderosa and limber pine.

After that stop we encountered a bit of a rain storm which included bits of hail.  Hearing the hail on the car roof made us fearful of what kind of damage it was causing- but the hail only made very small indentations on the car roof fortunately.  It was fascinating watching the storm clouds roll in and to see rain off in the distance as it slowly moved toward us.  The sun peeped in and out of the clouds and created splotches of light over the rolling hills.  Soon we were out of the rain and in the Sawtooth National forests. Here we had our first awesome views of the mountains for which western parts of our United States are noted for.

We drove through the town of Ketchum Idaho, known for its ski slopes.

Roadside signs reminded us that "Idaho is too beautiful to litter" and also that an extreme drought was present in the state and to conserve water.  We now had two days to make it to the reunion on time, more on our travels in the next posting.

 

Hot Springs and our Return Trip Home

 We visited Hot Springs on a Sunday, consequently the town seemed very quiet and many places of interest were closed.  John and I did walk along bathhouse row, which encompasses nine buildings that once were places to "take the waters", meaning to bathe in the thermal springs piped in from the hillsides surrounding the town.  Pictured below is the only bathhouse left which has baths and spas for  public use.  One of the buildings is now the Fordyce Bathhouse Museum, the others are restaurants and art galleries.

                                                                             

The Buckstaff, as well as the other 8 historic bathhouses, are now part of the Hot Springs National Park.  An interpretive sign located in this area notes that the National Park Service "preserves Bathhouse Row as a significant national landmark in the culture of leisure".    The bathhouses were built around the 1920s.  Yes, it does not seem like much of a national park in the way of any real big pristine beauty, yet besides the thermal springs there are mountain views, interesting geology, forested hikes and many creeks in the middle of town.

                                            

At one of the springs we saw a man sitting on a park bench, covering his head and feet with towels soaked in the thermal waters.  At another spring faucets are available for filling up jugs of the water.  A local man informed me that he regularly comes back to fill up his empty milk bottles because the water makes very good coffee.  We did happen to have an empty bottle in our car to fill up, which we did and brought back home with us.  It did not seem to improve my hot tea, but I happily drank it thinking that perhaps it did have some good health benefits!

                                           

Pictured above is the Arlington Hotel, built in 1924.  Over the years sports figures as Babe Ruth and Joe Dimaggio, actress Marilyn Monroe and 4 presidents have resided here- that is to name only a few of the many celebrities.  In this place the thermal waters are piped into the tubs and spas.  We stayed at this hotel about 20 years ago (on New Years eve) and I have a wonderful memory of being in the hotel's outside pool at midnight.  The water was warm, and we had a great view of the lights of the town.
                                            

After leaving bathhouse row we continued to walk through the town.  It did not have the nice limestone walls as Eureka Springs, but rugged rock walls surrounding parts of the town.  I was very much intrigued by the building pictured above, which seemed to be at least 100 years old and balanced precariously on a rock!
Maybe if I could have seen the building closer at the top my impression of it would be different.

                                            

We took two days driving home following a route mentioned in a book titled The Most Scenic Drives in America (published by Reader's Digest).  It has been on John's bucket list and called the Talimena Scenic Byway.  The drive traverses through the Oachita National Forest of western Arkansas.  We were supposed to see "thick forests.., steep-sided mountains and compact valleys".  Also an "abundance of lovely scenery and varied attractions".  We saw absolutely nothing, and when there was a break in the clouds I took the above picture.  We had left Hot Springs in a heavy rain storm, and this scenic byway was socked in with fog.  We very quickly turned off it and took another road into Oklahoma.  Slowly then the rain let up and we had a wonderful drive through eastern Oklahoma. We found here forests of oak and hickory as well as green rolling hills of pastureland.  A lot of that land is on Native American reservations.  We passed by The Cherokee National Heritage Center, another day we want to visit that.  We also drove by Tahlequah where marchers of the Trail of Tears ended their journey.  Our route home also took us along a meandering channel of the Illinois River.  There is much to explore in eastern Oklahoma, but time did not permit that.  It remains a trip for us on another day!
                                          

Eureka Springs, Ark

 This small town in Arkansas, founded in July 1879, is known as the "city that water built".    Native Americans, as well as early pioneers to our country, discovered that the area had numerous springs (over 66) which seemed to have healing properties.   Not only was healing to be found in this beautiful spot set in the Ozark Mountains of northern Arkansas, but also a certain feeling of beauty and peace.  It was most fortunate that in 1886 some of the area was protected by an act of congress.   On our first day in this town we took the Northern Arkansas scenic train for a brief trip into the Ozark hillside outside of town, and received a very thorough history of the town courtesy of our conductor.

                                                        

The train we rode was one of the originals which brought tourists from Seligmann, Mo. to Eureka starting 1883.  It still has the old wood burning stove in the train car which we rode in.  In the late 1800s this was a prime spot to visit away from the big cities.  Currently Eureka has 14 properties which are on the National Registry of historic places- many Victorian styled homes can be found here.  Also miles of hand stacked limestone walls line the town, and while driving through the narrow winding streets of Eureka I got the feeling that I had been transported to a small town in Europe.

                                                     

  My daughter Melissa, Susan (a family friend) and I took one afternoon (sans the grandchildren) and did a walking tour of  the town- visiting the many small parks and springs as well as stepping into the small shops which just happened to pop up in front of us.  In the picture below Melissa and Susan are standing in front of Sweet Springs, a springs which derived its name from early townspeople who thought the springs had a pleasant,sweet taste.  In the picture you can get an idea of the limestone walls which line the town.  Adding to the beauty of the parks and springs were ivy covered walls and a variety of blooming flowers.

                                                    

On another day John and I wandered around the Crescent Hotel and spa, built in 1886.  She is also known as the "Grand old lady of the Ozarks".  This hotel was the idea of a group of railroad tycoons who wanted to sell more seats on their trains to bring tourists to this wonderful town of healing waters and green hills.  This hotel has so many interesting features that tours are given- which we did not have the time to do, certainly some day I would like to see more of it!  

                                                    

Behind the hotel is a very long staircase which led us down to the church of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Catholic Church.  It is the only church I know where access to it is through its steeple.

                                          

The rotunda was built in 1904, the famous bell tower in 1909 and the sanctuary in 1910.  Beautiful garden and stations of the cross surround this edifice.                                                                           
Another interesting town with springs in Arkansas is Hot Springs, which John and I visited on our one week car tour of Arkansas and Oklahoma.  Stay tuned to my now infrequent postings- but hey, they are still happening!  We may not have our rv, but now that the pandemic has lessened we have plans to take a few trips this year! 

Two Covered Bridges Located in Missouri

On our return trip home from Marseline we searched out two covered bridges which we had yet to see (in the past we visited 4 out of the total of six which can be found in Missouri).  The first one we visited on this trip was the Locust Covered Bridge, located midway between Laclede and Meadville.  Built in 1868, it is the longest bridge in Missouri at 151 feet long.  The river once flowing under it now is located a distance away and the bridge is spanning a dry creek bed.

                                                  
The next bridge is located 8 miles southwest of Paris, Missouri.  Part of our fun searching out these covered bridges was driving over many country back roads.  We certainly saw many farm fields and cattle!   This covered bridge is called the Union Covered Bridge, built in 1871 and named after a local church.  The interpretive sign noted that it has survived a "flood, fire and neglect".  Seems to me it has done fairly well, considering that it carried traffic until 1970 when an overloaded truck broke one of its supporting beams.  After that the bridge was only open to pedestrian traffic.  It needed reconstruction in 1967 and 1987.  This one has a stream flowing under it.

                                                     

A unique feature of this bridge is that it has a doubled Burr arch truss.  Its siding is also unusual in that it is horizontal and not vertical as most bridges.  This information probably would only excite architectural buffs only for sure!.  But if you are curious as to what I am talking about, look closely at the picture below.

                                    

Interpretive signs at this bridge provided plenty of information regarding Missouri's bridges, as well as covered bridges in general.  An explanation was given why covered bridges were even needed: that the barn like structure helped farm animals about to cross over the bridge, that the roofed structure provided shelter during inclement weather, and covering the bridge added strength to it.  And, on a more humorous note, "bridges were covered for the same reason women wear petticoats- to protect their underpinnings".   Just in general, back in our history when bridges were a necessary part of our transportation system, the covered bridge lasted longer and proved to be stronger than those uncovered.  I am very happy that Missouri considers it important to preserve this piece of our history!

A Magical Boyhood

In 1999 Ruth Disney, the only sister Walt had, selected Marceline to show case the family memorabilia.  She also reached out to collectors encouraging them to display their Disney treasures in the museum.  Ruth also was a journal keeper and avid saver of letters and articles.  Many of those items are in the museum.

  I especially enjoyed hearing a recording of Walt Disney interviewing his parents on their 50th wedding anniversary.  He had offered to take them anywhere for that occasion and they chose Marceline.  Also on display are Disney autographed lithographs, as well as small models of buildings in his theme parks,

 Another item in the museum is a piece of Disney's "Dreaming Tree", as well as a large scale drawing of the tree by 'Arcy'.

Pictured above is a piece of a large cottonwood tree under which Disney did his dreaming and drawing.  The tree,once located by a spring on the family farm, was unfortunately struck down by lightening in 2008.  Under this tree Disney would do his dreaming and drawing (his Aunt Margret would keep him supplied with a Big Chief writing pad and pencils).  Here he did what he called some "belly botany".  He would observe the nature which surrounded him- as the animals, birds and even the wind blowing through the leaves of the tree.  From these memories he would draw his cartoons for Mickey Mouse and "Silly Symphony".  As an adult Disney would put aside time to sit and reflect under this tree on his return trips to Marceline.  

Walt's task on the farm was to watch his younger sister Ruth.  Pictured above is a replica of the barn where they spent many happy hours.  Walt had some wild hog rides on his pet runt of a pig he called "Skinny".  Also in this barn he constructed a circus tent with burlap bags and attempted to put on a show for neighborhood kids using some disinterested cats to perform tricks. 

Walt's recollection of his first view of his farm home in Marceline was that of a whitewashed house with a very fine front lawn.  The house has been altered quite a bit, with an addition added to it.  The house has owners currently, but we were able to checkout the barn and the site of the cottonwood tree, which now has a sapling of the original planted in its place (placed by Disney's grandson).  In 1906 Walt's dad purchased the farm house from a Civil War veteran, it sat on 45 acres of land on which grew an apple orchard.  While growing up in Marceline Walt had many other wonderful recollections to share, which I found in a Tour Guide of the town.  He had a neighbor who taught him to fish, another would play the fiddle for him, and a doctor in town would take him on buggy rides - this man also encouraged him to draw and gave him little presents for his efforts.  Walt's deep love for trains also started in this town- his uncle was an engineer on a train running from Fort Madison, Iowa to Marceline.  He would pick Walt up just outside of town and give him a ride into the train depot.  There is another Disney museum in California, but we were quite pleased with the one in Marceline.  And everything else we found in the town of Marceline gave us an understanding of Disney's childhood and the influence it had on his successful career in animation, and film production- as well as how he came to build the theme parks which we know as Disneyland and the Magic Kingdom.

A Trip to Marceline, Missouri

 One of these days we may run out of places to go and things to do in Missouri, but just not yet!  So what is in Marceline?  A man once said that he was just a farm boy from Missouri who hid behind a mouse and a duck.  I will give you another clue; this man, born in 1901, was the animator of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.  He was a creator of other cartoon characters as well as a film producer.  Of course you know him, especially if you are at least over 40 or so.  Yes, many young ones are familiar with Disney World and Disneyland- but probably not so much the entrepreneur who started those places.  His name was Walt Disney.  He lived in Marceline from 1906 until 1911, from the formative years of about 4years until age 11.    I have much to write about about those years, but will save that for my next posting.

The picture is not the greatest, but it is a scale model of main street Marceline, which we found in the Marceline museum.  It is what Disney remembers of the town when he was a young child, and what he aimed to duplicate in the Disney theme parks.  John and I had to stretch our imaginations a bit when we drove down the main street.  I never even took a picture of that stretch of the town- well I did, but there was nothing remarkable about that picture, it could have been any downtown in any small town of the United States.  By the way, back in the day the population was about 3,000- now is 2,233.  Which brings me to some of the history of the town.  In 1913 the Santa Fe railroad built a train station in the town; coal and water were available commodities in the town which made it a perfect choice.  Until about the 1970s it offered both passenger and freight service.  Walt Disney and wife Lillian returned to the town several times, starting in 1946, via the train.  The Walt Disney Hometown Museum is now located in what once was the rebuilt train station.  The trains still roar constantly through the town, now they just carry freight.  They provided quite a bit of background noise while we toured the museum.

Before I tell you about the museum, I do wish to show some pictures of the murals we found on the the town's older buildings.

I am sure you remember when coke was 5 cents a glass!  The Coca-Cola building at Disneyland is modeled after the Zurcher building in Marceline.  Zurchers were jewelers from 1903 to 1973.  One of the memories Walt Disney had of this town was the Cola sign pictured above. 

Another mural we found in the town advertised that Marceline was "Main Street, USA".  The quote from Disney on the building was this:  "To tell the truth, more things of importance happened to me in Marceline than have happened to me since, or are likely to in the future".  Disney returned to the town in 1946 when he photographed the length of the main street as a reference for Disneyland.  In 1956 he came to Marceline to dedicate the town's new swimming pool, named for him.  On the same day he had a  premiere showing of his movie "The Great Locomotive Chase" starring Fess Parker in the Uptown Theater- a theater he had visited as a youth.  He and his brother Roy greeted each child at the door.  Over the years he and a citizen of the town, Rush Johnson, worked on plans for a Disney farm to be located in Marceline-  a farm which would look similar to what he had experience when he was a young boy at the beginning of the century.  Unfortunately those plans never came to fruition.  Walt's next visit took place in 1960 when he dedicated the Walt Disney Elementary School.  He was to return to the town in 1966 when the first ride from the Magic Kingdom arrived-  a set of 10 small cars called "Midget Autopia" which were installed in the city park.  Unfortunately that was the year Disney suddenly took ill with cancer and died.  Pictured below is a photo of Disney by Ryan 'Arcy' Christenson.