I have to start this posting with a few commments about the family wedding. First, we pushed ourselves really hard to get from Mississippi to Washington State in time to rent an apartment and move in prior to the wedding. It taught us that we don't want to ever do that again. There were too many things we passed by simply because we didn't have time to stop. When you think that we left Mississippi on June 27th and arrived in Washington on July 6th with 3 days out of that time spent in Rowlett, Hurst and Tulsa, you can see what I mean. We had an apartment rented by the 9th and we moved in on July 10th. On the 15th we left for Portland, Oregon to pick up Sarah and Jay and then on to Black Butte Ranch outside of Sisters, Oregon for the wedding of the cousin closest to Sarah's age.
We actually went to Mount St. Helens on the way down to Portland just before the wedding. Now, that is a very interesting place. For you younger readers, this is a volcano, and it exploded in 1980 flattening a large portion of the area around it. Actually, it was a several part event: First the blast that collapsed an entire side of the mountain, The blast along with the tons and tons of rocks and mud knocked down countlesss acres of trees. The lava flow which changed the courses of several waterways and created new lakes. Finally, there was the ash plume that covered the cities to the east of the
mountain in 2 feet of ash blotting out the sun for days. 
This was an amazin
g event of nature, and due to the monitoring of the mountain prior to the eruption, scientists can now predict when an volcano is going to erupt. The science generated by the Mount St. Helen's eruption has saved countless lifes around the world. Even 30 years after the eruption, you can still see the marks on the land, but surprisingly, nature is recovering at a much faster rate than predicted. It was definitely worth the 100 mile detour over mountain roads to reach it. The Johnson Ridge Visitor's center has some wonderful scale models that showed 'what happened' in each event - the picture at the top is the lava flow. The tree picture is an example of what happened to trees in the blast path of a mountain exploding. The water picture is a new lake created by the eruption, and the picture to the right of the broken tree is a shot of the mountain today and the landscape leading up to it. There were actually people accidentally trapped on the mountain at the time of the eruption in 1980, and one fascinating wall recounts their experiences in trying to get off an exploding mountain. There were very few people actually killed. There's also a great movie of the actual explosion, lava flow and ash plume because it was being monitored carefully as it started to belch prior to the eruption.
Fortunately, the wedding was terrific. This resort had everything - multiple pools, golf courses, bike rental, surrey rental (wierd combo of a wagon and pedals for 2 bikes), tennis courts, and a bunch of other stuff. The entire Perez/Smith families had condominiums rented for us courtesy of Drake's sister and brother-in-law. We were able to share early breakfast (our condo), late breakfast (in-laws condo) and after hours food and drinks (Drake's sister/brother-in-law condo). We went to lunches and dinners together and shopping. We biked. [This was very good news for me - rode about 15 miles in 2 days and didn't have any physical repercussions! That means I will be biking here in Washington.] The wedding itself was lovely and the reception afterwards involved salmon and steak perfectly prepared and lots of dancing. The highpoint of the reception for the Perez/Smith
family was when Sarah caught the bridal bouquet! Oh, we had a lot of fun with that. We teased Jay, Sarah's boyfriend, that the Perez brothers would be calling on him SOON to inquire about his intentions. Vincent, the other unmarried cousin in Sarah's generation, declared repeatedly that he was now 'off the hook'. Sarah took all the ribbing good naturedly, and she gave the bouquet to the 7 year old flower girl who was a niece of the bride. That little girl was so happy, she never put the bouquet down the rest of the party. Sarah and I both remember the weddings she attended as a little girl, and the highpoint was always hoping against hope she would be able to catch the bouquet.
After the wedding weekend, we went back to Portland and sent Sarah and Jay on their way to a 10 day vacation up here. They headed for the Oregon seashore. I hope their experience was better than ours. We headed to Long Beach which is a peninsula off the west coast of Washington. It's a 28 mile beach, and it was terrible. First, it's gray sand. Second, there's NOTHING to pick up. There are no shells, no rocks, nothing interesting to collect unless you are into brown seaweed. The only remotely interesting thing was that this is birder heaven. Scores of birds winter and summer here. I guess the best part of the Long Beach trip was this cheesy place called Marsh's Free Museum. It's filled with every bad souvenir you can imagine. The ceiling is covered in the owner's collections. He has a stuffed everything from polar bear, lion, bear, every type of deer, elk, moose, as well as sheep, 2 headed cow, and "Jake" the alligator man. It was so funny to look up and see collections (think washboards, unusual tools, stuffed birds and animals, china, crystal, etc. etc. etc, while the shelves are filled with stuff children (and me) can't live without. He also had the biggest collection of machines you shove a quarter into and receive knowledge of your future or how strong your kiss is or your grip. It was a hoot, and it saved Long Beach. I didn't get over to see the lighthouse on the tip of the peninsula or the Lewis/Clark interpretive center - both of which would have probably been worth going to. There's only so much time in this life.
family was when Sarah caught the bridal bouquet! Oh, we had a lot of fun with that. We teased Jay, Sarah's boyfriend, that the Perez brothers would be calling on him SOON to inquire about his intentions. Vincent, the other unmarried cousin in Sarah's generation, declared repeatedly that he was now 'off the hook'. Sarah took all the ribbing good naturedly, and she gave the bouquet to the 7 year old flower girl who was a niece of the bride. That little girl was so happy, she never put the bouquet down the rest of the party. Sarah and I both remember the weddings she attended as a little girl, and the highpoint was always hoping against hope she would be able to catch the bouquet.After the wedding weekend, we went back to Portland and sent Sarah and Jay on their way to a 10 day vacation up here. They headed for the Oregon seashore. I hope their experience was better than ours. We headed to Long Beach which is a peninsula off the west coast of Washington. It's a 28 mile beach, and it was terrible. First, it's gray sand. Second, there's NOTHING to pick up. There are no shells, no rocks, nothing interesting to collect unless you are into brown seaweed. The only remotely interesting thing was that this is birder heaven. Scores of birds winter and summer here. I guess the best part of the Long Beach trip was this cheesy place called Marsh's Free Museum. It's filled with every bad souvenir you can imagine. The ceiling is covered in the owner's collections. He has a stuffed everything from polar bear, lion, bear, every type of deer, elk, moose, as well as sheep, 2 headed cow, and "Jake" the alligator man. It was so funny to look up and see collections (think washboards, unusual tools, stuffed birds and animals, china, crystal, etc. etc. etc, while the shelves are filled with stuff children (and me) can't live without. He also had the biggest collection of machines you shove a quarter into and receive knowledge of your future or how strong your kiss is or your grip. It was a hoot, and it saved Long Beach. I didn't get over to see the lighthouse on the tip of the peninsula or the Lewis/Clark interpretive center - both of which would have probably been worth going to. There's only so much time in this life.
We actually went to Mount St. Helens on the way down to Portland just before the wedding. Now, that is a very interesting place. For you younger readers, this is a volcano, and it exploded in 1980 flattening a large portion of the area around it. Actually, it was a several part event: First the blast that collapsed an entire side of the mountain, The blast along with the tons and tons of rocks and mud knocked down countlesss acres of trees. The lava flow which changed the courses of several waterways and created new lakes. Finally, there was the ash plume that covered the cities to the east of the
mountain in 2 feet of ash blotting out the sun for days. This was an amazin
g event of nature, and due to the monitoring of the mountain prior to the eruption, scientists can now predict when an volcano is going to erupt. The science generated by the Mount St. Helen's eruption has saved countless lifes around the world. Even 30 years after the eruption, you can still see the marks on the land, but surprisingly, nature is recovering at a much faster rate than predicted. It was definitely worth the 100 mile detour over mountain roads to reach it. The Johnson Ridge Visitor's center has some wonderful scale models that showed 'what happened' in each event - the picture at the top is the lava flow. The tree picture is an example of what happened to trees in the blast path of a mountain exploding. The water picture is a new lake created by the eruption, and the picture to the right of the broken tree is a shot of the mountain today and the landscape leading up to it. There were actually people accidentally trapped on the mountain at the time of the eruption in 1980, and one fascinating wall recounts their experiences in trying to get off an exploding mountain. There were very few people actually killed. There's also a great movie of the actual explosion, lava flow and ash plume because it was being monitored carefully as it started to belch prior to the eruption. After we left Long Beach (I'm back to after the wedding now), the drive to Tacoma was visually very interesting. The coastline here is nothing like anything else I've seen. The closest comparison is to some parts of the Louisiana coastline prior to Katrina and prior to the oil spill. Lots of it is marshy with this tufted grass that seems almost like a peat bog. There were new wildflowers, and the scenery was excellent. Our Texas license plates seem to generate interested conversation with locals every time we stop for gas. We went to Tacoma because I persuaded Drake that what we wanted to see was the Glass Museum in Tacoma.
We were quite impressed with the lovely downtown area of Tacoma, and had a great lunch at Woody's - outdoors overlooking the glass museum and the marina which is in the middle of downtown Tacoma. Glass art became this city's signature thanks to a glass artist - Dale Chilhuly - a Northwest native. His pieces are world renowned and he has inspired glass artists from all over the world to
come to this town. He has almost single handedly started the Glass Museum which includes a Hot Shop - a place to create glass art pieces. The City has gotten on board and constructed an elev
ated bridge connecting two main downtown streets. The bridge is filled with Chilhuly pieces as is the 
renovated Union Station which is now the home of the United States Courthouse for the northwest. You can see the blue ballon like sculptures (glass) which mark the bridge. To the left and right as you start across the bridge are walls of glass creations by Chilhuly. I first heard about this artist from my friend Margie who loved to collect pieces of glass. The last portion of the bridge is glass art overhead. This left picture is representative of about 50 feet. It was like being under a sea filled with magnificent creatures.
come to this town. He has almost single handedly started the Glass Museum which includes a Hot Shop - a place to create glass art pieces. The City has gotten on board and constructed an elev
ated bridge connecting two main downtown streets. The bridge is filled with Chilhuly pieces as is the 
renovated Union Station which is now the home of the United States Courthouse for the northwest. You can see the blue ballon like sculptures (glass) which mark the bridge. To the left and right as you start across the bridge are walls of glass creations by Chilhuly. I first heard about this artist from my friend Margie who loved to collect pieces of glass. The last portion of the bridge is glass art overhead. This left picture is representative of about 50 feet. It was like being under a sea filled with magnificent creatures. We saw three amazing exhibits inside the actual musuem - each a wonder in its own right. The one I only went to because it was there was the exhibit in which children designed pieces (made pictures) and glass artists in the area created a glass piece based on each child's inventive picture. It's a pity they wouldn't allow us to take pictures - some of them defy description. Imagine a banana riding on a hotdog bun with flames shooting out of the back of the bun. A glass artist created this design in glass, and that was one of the tame ones. I think the artists had as much fun as the children. It was apparently a state wide contest, and the winners got to see their creations come to life in the Hot Shop at the museum. This exhibit just won me over with its whimsy and creativity. There were children at this exhibit and you could feel their excitement as they looked at the 50 pieces. This is just the type of exhibit that needs to travel around the country. It would be a wonderful introduction to musuems and art for the elementary age group. The other two exhibits were more traditional in that they appealed to adult patrons. Both were outstanding. I felt like I'd seen pieces of art that will be with me forever.
The museum supports glass artists in that it has this Hot Shop in which they can work. Large pieces need large fire boxes to keep the glass malleable, and lots of special tools. In return for getting to work in the Hot Shop, each artist agrees to be watched by an audience. There are theater seats above the shop floor, and a commentator telling the museum patrons what they are seeing. This place also had a killer gift shop. I actually got three small pieces of glass art. They are flat disks about the size of 50 cent pieces with flotsam and jetsam embedded in them - including Mount St. Helen's ash - a nice tie in for us.
Overall, this was a wonderful trip combining family and fun with touring new sights. What could be better?
