It’s hard to believe that I was only 7 when the mountain blew. That’s how it’s referred to around here, the day she blew. I know people freak out thinking about living by a volcano, but hey, we can out run that…I’ve seen you freaks try to out run a tornado. Yeah, doesn’t turn out so well. We have a lot more notice before a mountain blows.  This is going to be a long post, so pour yourself a cold one, fill that mug with a ton of hot coffee and fix a sandwich

Very few of the 56 deaths couldn’t have been prevented.  Adrenaline junkies wanted to be there and if they hadn’t been there we wouldn’t have the awesome shots and commentary we have.  However, they lost friends that were trying to do the same.  And who could forget the crazy old man Harry Truman who said he’d lived there for over 50 years and was going to die there.  Damn idiot did! Truman of St. Helens : The Man & His Mountain was written by his niece and I’m going to have hubby order it. He was a WWII vet and an old rum runner. You know that guy was a cool grandpa. I have lots of ornery relatives like that I wish I had their stories. lol

Wikipedia has some cool quick facts about the eruption and the mountain itself. I’m having a hard time finding a dvd copy of how the eruption hit us here in Washington state, which is a very sad thing, but a great book to check out is Ecological Responses to the 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens. I see a definite need to hit some of these people and tell them to get with the times and upgrade those vhs tapes to dvd!

But on to me.  I was 7.  We were on one of our many weekends over at our best friends house in Brewster, Washington.  It was 8:32 and we kids were out playing in the sunshine already (eastern Washington gets sunshine, lol) and our (probably) hungover parents were inside cooking pancakes and drinking bucket loads of coffee.  It was Sunday morning so that meant we would leave soon to head back to the west side of the mountains as Dad had to get to work.

We heard the mountain blow.  We were somewhere around 200 miles northeast as the crow flies from it.  I will tell you that I told my parents that the mountain blew up.  This isn’t the closest mountain to us by any means, but I told them the mountain blew.  I need to talk to my brother and see what he remembers about the event.  I know I knew the mountain blew.  We couldn’t see it at all.  I just knew.  We were in the middle of the redneck Eastern Washington and they all laughed and said that it was a gunshot.  I knew better.

My parents decided to go the long way home.  The scenic route.  It was one of the few times we went through Leavenworth which is hubby and my favorite, favorite, favorite town to run away to.  I can remember we stopped for breakfast there and the funny thing is it’s the family side of the favorite little dumpy lounge hubby and I like to be at.  We stopped for breakfast, sitting in a big booth in the front corner window and the waitresses were talking to the locals about the mountain blowing up.  It is the one time I can remember for a fact I told my parents, “I TOLD YOU SO!”

Again, this is why I need to talk to my brother about this.  We never have talked about it and we are very in tune with our surroundings, environment, and hey, we just know shit.  It’s true and more of a post than any can handle.  We’re native american and the mountain blew.  Yes, we did know it was her.

By the time we got home it was slow going across the Cascades.  This was an already slow journey.  Thankfully we had gone so far north to get across or we would have been stopped.  My Dad isn’t native but he knows crap too.  I’m sure that is the reason why he drove us so far north.  We could go there too, but eh, not very few of you are ready for that either.

The next morning I should have been going to school, but I remember it didn’t happen.  We did get up in the morning and collect adh off our bumper.  I know we worried for days about Great-grandma because Wapato had been shut down for days.  It was like a horror movie, dark and dusty for days on end.  They were told not to leave their houses and with good reason.  Of course, over the years I’ve seen a ton of footage of the Mt. St. Helen’s blowing up and the aftermath.  So it’s always fresh in my head how the towns so close to me were in complete shut down at the time.

I wouldn’t give up my mountains for anything, but I do have a  healthy respect for them.  I know I live extremely close to active volcanoes.  But dang they are gorgeous!

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