August 7, 2016. A Rainy Day, Watercolor Painting, the Loggers Memorial and Visiting the Mt. St. Helen's Visitor Center

August 7, 2016. A Rainy Day, Watercolor Painting, the Loggers Memorial and Visiting the Mt. St. Helen's Visitor Center.

We had kind of a slow Sunday today. On the way back from Fort Clatsop in Oregon we had to go over the Lewis & Clark bridge in Longview. This bridge is really high. All the big freighters that are going up and down the Columbia River pass underneath it. Below it is a giant Weyehaeuser lumber facility and several big grain elevators along with lots of big freighters. A perfect setting for a painting. For the morning we went over to the Oregon side and found a nice park in Rainier that looked at all these plants and did watercolors until the rain showed up.

Lewis & Clark bridge over the Columbia River

Freighter getting loaded with grain on the Columbia River

In the Kelso, WA area, where we spent the night, is Mount St. Helens. St Helens is the volcano that blew-up on May 18, 1980, the deadliest and most destructive volcanic eruption in the US. The day was pouring rain so we decided to visit one of the 4 visitors centers that focus on the Mountain. We stopped by the Mt. St. Helen Visitor Center in Silverlake. It is a pretty good center run by the State of Washington. The also have an excellent board walk out into the marsh on the edge of Silver Lake.

For the evening we ended up in Morton, WA. We wanted to be close to Mt. Rainier for Monday. To bad we weren't here next week as it is the 74 Morton Logger's Jubilee the grandad e of logging shows. That would have been cool. As it was our hotel was next to the Logger Memorial.

Louise walking along the board walk at the Mt. St. Helen's Visitors Center

The Logger Memorial in Morton, WA

Bruce standing with a carved eagle at the Loggers Memorial