EARTHQUAKE Finally - After All These Years of Teaching Earth Science

After 33 years of teaching about earthquakes - I finally experienced one. Last night - about 9:21 PM - we are lying in bed - watching TV - and using our laptops. All of a sudden the large glass sliding bath door started banging. Then the bed started shaking. I quickly woke up a drowsy Lulu and we were riding the waves. Simply - it was like a train going by outside the window - but without any noise. It reminded me of the shake on a ship when the propeller bites into the waves. It lasted about 40 seconds. For the rest of the night - I was sleeping very lightly - like a surfer waiting for the next wave.

This morning when I woke up - I quickly checked the internet for any earthquake reports. Here is what Lulu found -

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/recenteqsww/Quakes/us2010bzai.php

So it is official. We are official earthquake riders. It was center about 10 miles west of town - 5.2 on the Richter Scale.

Our apple pod hotel room where we rode out the quake

Christchurch New Zealand - cathedral and chess

Headquarters of the world famous "All Blacks" rugby team - famous for their Maori dance

Lulu swimming in 100 degree Hanmer Springs - with snow on the alps

WASHINGTON STATE - At 5 AM Were At Home in Tallahassee - By 4 PM We Were On The Side of Mount Saint Helens

35 years ago this month - Mount Saint Helens erupted

Usually our trips are centered around Lulu's work - this time it is just us. We had a free airline ticket that was to expire at the end of the month.

For 33 years I taught Earth Science in Lansford - Pennsylvania. That included a good dose of earthquakes and volcanoes. In 1980 - a whole new set of lesson plans was created by Mount Saint Helens exploding near Vancouver - Washington. After teaching about it so many times - today I got the chance to walk the mountain and witness the destruction. It was 35 years ago this week that this mountain blew its top - spewing ash all over the world - knocking millions of giant trees over like splinters. The local topography was changed forever - covering a beautiful fishing resort Spirit Lake with hundreds of feet of mud.

We left Tallahassee at 5 AM - had a quick stopover at Atlanta to get on a full Boeing 767 to Seattle. In Seattle - we didn't have to wait for bags - we plopped into our rented gray Nissan Versa for the 100 mile trip down I-5 to the national park. It is a long 50 mile ride from the Interstate up a zig-zaggy 2 lane road to about 4000 feet above sea level to the visitor center. In the winter it is closed to visitors. Today the views of the mountain are magnificent. 

When Mount Saint Helens erupted in 1980 - it did three main things -