So....in my little world, 30 years ago today I was excited to be going to the golf course with my Dad! (Oh how I miss my Dad) This day, we were at Esmerelda. We spent much quality time together on the many golf courses around Spokane over the years, and to me, a 10 year old girl...getting to help Dad carry his clubs was a big job and it made me feel so very important!
Dad was planning to go 18 holes that day & the weather was just beautiful. A sunny, warm late Spring day, perfect for a father-daughter outing. We were somewhere around the 9th hole or so when the lovely, bright sun began to 'dim'. We entertained the possibility that a rain storm was imminent. What else would cause the sun to disappear at noon? We headed into the club house so Dad could get a 'rain check' for the remainder of his game and that's where the TV caught our attention. Could it really be true? A volcano that was hundreds of miles West of us was causing this?
We had been expecting Mount St. Helens to blow, but we certainly didn't believe for a second that it would effect us here, in Spokane, in any way...wow, were we wrong! Dad had a black Chrysler Cordova. He used to let me sit on his lap and "drive" sometimes and, of course, that made me feel big and important too! :) Once we watched the TV broadcasts for a short while, we headed out to the car to attempt to make it home before it got much worse. It was about as light as it usually is shortly after the sun disappears under the horizon on a typical evening, but steadily becoming darker. It was 'raining' alright....raining ash. Dad's lovely black car had a nice layer of this gray ash on it already. The trip from Esmerelda to our house typically took about 30 minutes or so. Not today. The longer we were in the car, the thicker and faster the ash was falling on us and the darker it became. Traffic was bumper to bumper this "lovely" Sunday afternoon as people all over the city were trying to make it home through this ashy blizzard. A remarkable sight! Dad was always SO much fun to ride with...and this day was no exception. We couldn't play the 'alphabet game' because we couldn't see the billboards, or store signs...or even the license plates on any of the cars because it was so very dark. I remember laughing with Dad all the way home anyway! After about 2 1/2 hours, we finally made it home to Mom.
I was a young adventurer who rode my bike everywhere, so I wanted to try to make it to the corner circle K store which was about 6 blocks away....probably just to say that I had done it. I'm not sure why Mom & Dad let me do such silly things, but I had a way of begging and getting my way...so off I went! I rode through the blizzard of ash as fast as I could ride...which was not very fast! I made it about 3 blocks before I realized that if I actually ever made it to the store, I'd certainly not be able to make it back! I stopped at a friend's house & they didn't even recognize me! I was completely covered in dry ash except for a sliver of flesh just around my eyes where I'd been squinting and my eyes tearing. Rather than make a muddy mess in their house, I headed back home where Mom helped me get cleaned up and we watched in wonder as the TV played and replayed the awesome eruption of this massive volcano over and over again.
The after effects of Mount St Helens lasted many years...and the memory of that day are blazed into my memory like a brand.
It's been 30 years today since that fateful event.
It's been 17 months & 5 days since I lost my wonderful Dad :( I sure miss him!
What a neat story! The volcano part but especially the dad part.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't give a lot of thought to volcanoes before this one in Iceland shut down an entire continent. I guess one benefit of growing up in IL and then moving to AR is that we are volcano-free.
Yes....but I think I'd rather take the volcanoes than the tornadoes! :s
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