Out of WASHington

I don’t think that I had every pondered where the state of Washington got its name before. After spending 8 & ½ days in Washington, I believe that it’s all about the amount of rain! We had one day of sun and one day of “not raining.” Regardless, the state was beautiful with majestic mountains, wind/rain swept beaches, towns rumored to be vampire occupied, and one of the most violently altered terrains in the world caused by the cataclysmic volcanic event of 1980. We spent an early morning heading up to view Mt. St. Helens. We left the campground (less the trailer) at about 7:30 to head up to the observation center at about 4200 feet. When we hit 3000 feet, the rain was turning to sleet and the fog was enveloping the road. Rather than take the chance of sliding off the road and then just looking at fog at the top we turned around and went back to the campsite. We hooked up the trailer, drove south (in the rain) to a little below Portland to Champoeg State Park. We drove up to another “campground full” sign. Barbara got out and tracked down a camp volunteer who told her there were actually 3 open sites. The campground and surroundings are beautiful. We are set up, have had our dinner and are waiting for an old friend from Long Island, Don Feltham, to pay us a visit. In addition to catching up on old times, we want to pick his brain on places to visit as we meander around the state of Oregon. We hope to one day upload these blogs that we have been writing and saving each day!