Where were you when Mt. St. Helens erupted?

[mev]

I also remember a friend from High School in Renton, Wa (we graduated in 1978). We were 20 so we lived on our own by then. Her parents and younger sister had gone camping near Spirit Lake and no one ever saw them again. I also remember a photo that ran in the Seattle Times that showed a toddler dead in the back of a pick-up truck open bed. There was some outrage about that because the child was still unidentified. It was a haunting photo.

[Jiff]

I was in West Richland on a bright cloudless Sunday morning when the sky darkened and we noticed what looked like storm clouds arrive from the west and slowly descend and darken the day, causing street lights to turn on. The light ash floated from the pavement like hydroplane roostertails behind cars.

Hanford closed for a few days and getting to and from it was quite an ordeal. The ash was so thick you could barely see a car length ahead when the wind was parallel to the road, making it necessay to almost stop. A co-worker was killed when he was rear ended in such a situation. When the wind was perpendicular to the road you could slowly move along.

The ash arrives at my house in West Richland:

[Seacove]

I didn't live here then but traveled through a few years after. They were selling Mt. St. Helens ash in the convenience stores, little bottles or vials, for $1.00. It seemed funny to me because if you drove south of Seattle along 5, there were piles of it on either side of a highway like after a snowstorm. Why would anyone pay a dollar for ash when you could get a bucket of it on the side of the highway?

[oregonwoodsmoke]

I was in Tumalo, Oregon, a couple miles north of Bend and we got a serious coating of ash on everything.

One of my nieces went up to Mt St Helens to get bags full of ash because she had some scheme to glaze pottery with it. I don't think she followed through with her idea.

For several years after, though, there were these fabulous Christmas ornaments made of blown glass that were supposed to be made with the ash. A bit expensive, but I have a couple of them and they are prized possessions.

[Votre_Chef]

Originally Posted by xboxmas

Very random, but I thought I would ask. I am interested in stories. How long was the town shut down?

I wasn't alive yet, but my parents both lived in Eastern Washington, and school was canceled for the rest of the year. They almost thought it was the end of the world or something. They never thought about saving the ash because it was scary at the time and didn't really think of it at the time. Interested to hear your stories and where you were.

Federal Way. Nothing really to report from there. But my grandparents lived just south of Tumwater and their lawn was blanketed with ash, as if it has snowed. She collected some and kept it and even though both of my grandparents have been dead for years now, we still have it.

In 1982 when St. Helens was about to erupt again, I was at Lake Easton, near Cle Elum with my family. The rangers shut down and evacuated the park (not exactly sure why, it's east of St. Helens, but still pretty far north). So we left (nothing happened). But because of the rangers' warnings I had assumed (I was a little kid) that Mt. St. Helens must be close by, so as we drove home, I kept peaking out the window to catch a glimpse of it.