Did you know that,

37 years ago, Mount St-Helens in Washington erupts. It has often been described as the most disastrous volcanic eruption in US history. Approximately 57 people lost their lives, and the damage cause by it was evaluated at over 3$ billion, 1.1$ billion of that being in property damage only. The rest of the damage was attributed to many square miles of territory turned into wasteland, and thousand of game animals that perished.

History, needs never be forgotten!
 
Not something I'm likely to forget. I was 16 at the time & living in Vancouver WA about 60 miles from it. Woke up to the boom. Got dressed & went outside to see what made the noise. You could see all of the mtn from my front yard & I could see the ash plume rising from the top & expanding to the east. I wish I still had the pictures or at least the negatives from the pictures I took at a viewpoint later that morning. I got 2 shots that were slightly overlapped, but showed the entire plume. Once it was all said & done, it took a couple weeks to clean up all the ash in the neighborhood. I remember standing IN a storm drain scooping the ash out so that water could flow through (I was rather skinny). I actually had several small "tattoo scars" from all the ash getting into the cuts it caused. Some of them lasted 4-5 years before the ash finally worked its way out. One looked like a dirty patch along the outside of my right calf (slipped while running & slid in the ash, shredding my sock & skin). Not something I'll ever forget, nor do I wish to repeat it.
 
Not something I'm likely to forget. I was 16 at the time & living in Vancouver WA about 60 miles from it. Woke up to the boom. Got dressed & went outside to see what made the noise. You could see all of the mtn from my front yard & I could see the ash plume rising from the top & expanding to the east. I wish I still had the pictures or at least the negatives from the pictures I took at a viewpoint later that morning. I got 2 shots that were slightly overlapped, but showed the entire plume. Once it was all said & done, it took a couple weeks to clean up all the ash in the neighborhood. I remember standing IN a storm drain scooping the ash out so that water could flow through (I was rather skinny). I actually had several small "tattoo scars" from all the ash getting into the cuts it caused. Some of them lasted 4-5 years before the ash finally worked its way out. One looked like a dirty patch along the outside of my right calf (slipped while running & slid in the ash, shredding my sock & skin). Not something I'll ever forget, nor do I wish to repeat it.

That's an awesome story, thanks for sharing it.

Not that it's lucky to be next to a disaster, but I think you can be somehow grateful to have experience an event like this, it's not a given to everyone, and going through something like this makes everyone a better person.

You sir, do deserve a medal!
 
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