Thursday, August 7, 2008

"Vancouver, Vancouver..this is it!"


The title refers to geologist David Johnston's last words last radio transmission before he was killed in the May 18, 1980, eruption of Mt. St. Helens. Today as part of my trip I had the priveledge of visiting the David A. Johnston Cascades Volcano Observatory (CVO) in Vancouver. It is not a visitors center, but a base of operation for the USGS to work across the Cascades (I think there is a view of St. Helens from the roof, but it was cloudy this morning). Turns out my contact there had worked with Johnston.


I visited the center as part of a collaboration-seeking trip to the Pacific Northwest for an master's degree program in environmental education that Bradley University is starting. This trip is business, but I enjoy hearing about other science projects - and seeing the CVO is something a volcano buff ought to do. I think that there is some good collaboration that can be done. Additonally, across the street from the CVO is a U.S. Fish and Wildlife center, so I strolled into there, made a contact, and got information. After that I drove up toward Seattle. I made a side trip (a pilgrimage?) to the Johnston Ridge Observatory (now that is a visitors center). I was seeking stuff for the environmental science courses (especially with respect to erosion), but of course it was fun for me, too. Now I am in Seattle staying with Dace, Susan and Arlan. I have more meetings in Seattle tomorrow. I have lots of pictures, but the day was challenging for this introvert so I will post an old picture of Mt. St. Helens from 9 years ago.

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