Seattle’s Mt. St. Helens – We were headed to Seattle aboard a US Airways flight when we looked out the window and noticed white snow-capped volcanoes dotting the landscape below.

I wasn’t prepared to capture this scene so the best I could do was pull out my iPhone.  Therefore, as you can  see, our photograph is very grainy.  Please forgive.

“Washington has five active volcanoes (Mt. Baker, Glacier Peak, Mt. Rainier, Mt. St. Helens and Mt. Adams). All are capable of producing the most violent type of eruptions that eject huge amounts of ash, rock, and gas and trigger rockfalls and mudflows. The 1980 Mt. St. Helens blast ejected one quarter cubic miles of material devastating many square miles around it, sending mudflows down the Toutle River and spreading ash over most of Eastern Washington.” (via Seattle Office of Emergency Management)

If I’m not mistaken, that’s Mt. St. Helens in the foreground.  You can clearly see where she has blown her top and the landscape around her still looks devastated from the blast.

I was surprised that our pilot didn’t give us advanced warning to peer out the window at these beautiful, and imposing volcanoes.  I suppose he/she has seen them hundreds of times. But, as first time visitors, we were awestruck.

Plus, perhaps the plane would tip sideways if we all tried to peek out the right side of the plane.  🙂

We are on this particular flight to Seattle because we are about to embark on our first ever cruise to Alaska.  In the morning we will hop aboard the Norwegian Cruise Line’s Pearl and make our way up Alaska’s Inside Passage.

Stay tuned, we have much to share!