Yesterday has to rank up there in at least the top 5 best days of my life so far.
I went to both Mount Rainier and Mount St. Helens. They were at once both different in landscape and equal in grandeur. My mind is still blown away, and it is very difficult to find the adequate words to describe the sort of bonding that happened between the forest and me. I'm used to the deciduous forests of Illinois, but here, the word coniferous isn't enough. They are primeval. The forests around Mt. Rainier are towering, like the fingers of the gods twisting toward the sky, mother earth reaching toward her lover, the sun.
Mt. St. Helens is much different. It is easy to imagine dinosaurs roaming around. The landscape looks untouched, with heavy moss coating every tree in sight. Then there is this boundary you cross, and instantly you are transported into a wasteland. There are millions of trees all lying on their sides, all facing the same way, as if bowing to the might of the mountain. It's been twenty four years since the eruption, and only a few shrubs and wayward treed dare to grow. The atmosphere is solumn, as if you wre in a church. It was quite an experience. I flew my prayer flags at the top as I stared at the hole in the earth that was what was left of the volcano. If I get the chance, i will definately bring my kids there.

MOUNT RAINIER-lush, forest-decorated natural edifice



MOUNT ST. HELENS-the wasteland and mountain in the distance