Kalama High School - Twilight site

Between Mount St. Helen's and Portland, heading south on I-5, lies the small town of Kalama, Washington. If I hadn't read it in a tourist brochure, I would not have learned that Kalama is the site of the famous high school used in filming the movie Twilight. Upon entering the town, I expected more fanfare about the movie; after all, it must have been the most exciting thing to have happened in Kalama for quite some time, I'm sure. The town is actually quite picturesque, as it rises steeply from the highway; the school is located at the top of a hill and there is a nice view of the surrounding area from up there. The only evidence that there had been a movie filmed there was a small plastic container with maps of the school grounds for those interested in taking the "Twilight tour". The photo shows the famous parking lot where Bella almost crashed her truck, and Edward saved her.

Mount St. Helen's 30th anniversary

August 1 we took a road trip to Mount St. Helen's, Washington. It was about an hour's drive from I-5, with several interpretive centers along the way, featuring different aspects of the mountain's history and explaining the science behind the volcano's magnificent eruption back in 1980. I remember the event, but as I was not living in BC at the time, I don't think I realized just how incredible it really was. The personal accounts of people who witnessed or survived the eruption were fascinating to read, and the video footage was spectacular. One of the big stories of the event was that of Harry Truman, a resident who had lived all his life at the foot of the mountain and refused to leave when the evacuation order was given. He made the international news at the time and his story is now legend.

The Komo 4 news car is now parked outside one of the interpretive centers, as a monument to the eruption. It is still covered in the ash that blackened the skies of Washington after the blast.
Amazingly enough, due to the wonders of physics, the people closest to the blast heard nothing. I found it humourous that "a Canadian town" doesn't appear to have a name. I guess if it's not Vancouver, it's too small to acknowledge.
At the highest point of the highway, we got a good view of the summit of the volcano. In this photo, our interpreter is getting us to reconstruct the original peak with our hands, to show how much of the mountain was blown away during the blast.

FIFA World Cup 2010

On Saturday, we got up at 5:00 am and went to the Alpenhaus to watch Germany vs. Argentina in the quarter-final match of the World Cup. There were about 1000 people there, in all range of German colours and regalia. Flags were flying and spirits were high, even considering that no alcohol could be served until the match was over! I missed all 4 of the German goals, due to the exuberance of the fans who would stand up whenever the ball approached the Argentine goal. In the end, it was a grand day for the Germans, who blanked Argentina 4-0 in one of the biggest upset matches of the tournament so far.

Cape St. Mary's Ecological Reserve

Sunday we drove south to Cape St. Mary's, site of one of the largest nesting grounds for seabirds in North America. On the way, we stopped at the Salmonier Nature Trail, a 3 km boardwalk through the forest which houses various native animal and plant species. We were very impressed by this facility, not to mention the fact that it was free! The animals we saw included a moose, a snowy owl, a great horned owl, caribou, and this cute little artic fox, among many others.
Our journey continued down highway 90, which winds its way across the peninsula and then down the coast. It was incredible how little traffic we saw. We might pass a car going the other direction about every 30 minutes or so. The terrain also changed drastically as we drove. It started off very rocky and then turned to tundra - not a tree in sight for miles. And it's not like there was any farmland, either. Just miles and miles of nothing. In order to get to Cape St. Mary's, we had to drive off the main highway 13 km down a very narrow road (hardly big enough for 2 cars to pass). At the end, there was a small interpretive center, and a parking lot. It really seemed like the middle of nowhere. We had to hike about a mile over the hills to get to the viewing point of what they call Bird Island. It was a truly amazing site. The sea stack was literally covered with thousands and thousands of gannets, all making noise and many of them soaring overhead around the cove. Lower down on the ledges were other types of seabirds including murres and kittiwakes, but the gannets were definitely the most prominent and impressive. Clicking on the photos below will give a better sense of how many birds were there.

Here's Dave on his way to Bird Island - like I said, miles and miles of ... nothing.