40 years ago, my family and I were heading home from church late on a Sunday morning when we stopped at the park near our house and got out to witness the ginormous mushroom-like cloud of ash coming from a newly erupted Mt. St. Helens. For the next week or so, ash rained down on our area and covered our cars and lawn, and it looked like a light dusting of snow. The middle of the day looked like dusk. It’s one of those childhood memories that is burned in your brain.
Link: Nature has charted an astonishing course on the slopes of the Northwest’s most notorious volcano.
That Infernal Itch 