Mt St. Helen's

The first morning of the reunion we had a tasty breakfast made by Tom with a lot of help from his children and Robert.  Pancakes, plain, blueberry, and chocolate chip.  Bagels.  Bacon. and all the cold cereals and fruits.  Mmm. Tasty.  We needed to walk it off.  So part of the group went to Jame's (Mayne) baptism.  It was not close by.  We cleaned up breakfast, and a group of us went to Ape caves.  This is a lava tube-- the third longest one in the nation.  We only walked a short part (3/4 mi) of it.  We had a short walk to the entrance, then walked down steps into the darkness.

We had to bring our own flashlights.  We the floor on the lower tube was reasonably level, but still rough enough the little kids had to scramble over rocks.

 Here it looks like a subway, but believe me, it was dark.  Sometimes the ceiling angled in or got some smaller.  Sometimes the bottom was a narrow track. And it was cold-- 48 degrees.  When we got into the humid, warmer air, everything fogged up, including the camera lens.

 Some of our fearless trekkers at the car.

 In the afternoon, in between "Crazy 6", jig saw puzzles and volleyball.  Some went back to do the rougher upper lava tube, those who went to the baptism in the morning, went hiking the easier tube, and the kids made beach cupcakes.

The jigsaw puzzle is courtesy of Susan.  It's a map of Switzerland.  At dinner, we celebrated birthdays-- James, Steven R. Cynthia.  At dinner, I mistook a full length window for a door.  BONK!  A lump on the head and a bruised ego, but fortunately the widow took the hit undamaged.