May 18th 1980
May. 19th, 2004 04:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
staxxyAs Ogre said - if you remember where you were on this day, the odds are good you are from the PNW. and I am.
On May 16th, 1980 I went up with my Aunt Janet, Uncle Chris (her husband at the time, she has had 5), all four of my first cousins, and some friends of theirs to my Uncle Chris' cabin that sits just on the Yakima side of White Pass. The property is bordered by one of the rivers over there, but I can't recall if it is the Tieton, Naches, or Yakima. The sun comes up at about 5am in mid-may in this state(as most of us are already aware), so all of the kids were up with the sun. There were fields in front of the cabin that were filled with wild grass, and we used to run and skip and play tag and roll around in them in the summer when we went up there. We had all eaten breakfast together around 6:30 or 7am. So all of the kids were out playing in the "yard". I was always kinda klutzy, so when I was skipping (I used to skip and hop a lot, I liked to bounce HIGH) and came down and fell - well, I assumed I had been klutzy and fallen over, instead of thinking the ground had moved (although it actually *had*). We had been hearing mild thunder in the background that kept getting a little louder with each rumble and the sky was becoming overcast fairly quickly (first light grey clouds, and then darker ones started in). The very first ash that fell was like talcum powder, it was so fine and soft. It was so bizarre, and all of the kids went to the adults for an explanation (they were standing on the porch talking and watching us all). I do not recall which one of them said it but the answer we got was "dry rain, it's fine" so we went back to playing in it and marveling at this strange new weather (dry rain? we had never heard of such a thing), while the adults slipped into the house to find a radio. About 15 or 20 minutes later they came running out and grabbed us and we packed our things hurriedly up and threw them in the cars while the adults were too frantic to tell us what was going on. so we just went with it.
I ended up riding in the jeep wrangler on my Aunt Janet's lap, my uncle Chris was driving and Rufus (the black lab) was in the back - except that Rufus was freaked out and wanted to sit on my lap or Aunt Janet's lap (same place at that time) the whole trip. When we started up the road to the highway we had about 5 yards of visibility, it might have been more but that's about as far as the road went straight in any direction, so I have no idea really. It took us 10 minutes to get to the highway. When we were loading into the cars I looked up and saw the clouds that were moving in. They looked like purplish black thunderheads, there was lighting and thunder and crap pouring out of them. At the highway our visibility was down to about 3 yards. We were going as fast as we could, not talking, listening to the radio and trying to keep the dog off of the driver.
By this time (about 9am) it was really dark out - almost *night* dark out. The powder and turned to something more like sand and we were breathing through our shirts with the windows all up (ugh, stressed out drooling lab smell... GROSSS). The radio was the first place I heard that it was volcanic ash. They said there wasn't any lava yet, but they did not know if there would be soon or when the ash would stop. They said that it was probably full of sulphuric acid so we should all stay out of it or it would burn our skin, which is where I laughed and said that was silly because we were all fine so it had to not be true. I remember my Aunt was weeping and all freaked out and kept squeezing me like I was going to die if she let go a little. The ash kept getting heavier and thicker. And the visibility kept getting worse. and then the jeep started to make these HORRIBLE noises because of all the ash. I remember that my uncle was afraid we would lose the brakes.
The worst the visibility got was less than a foot. We kept moving forward though, because we knew the roads really well and there weren't very many cars on it. We just went *really* slow. It sounded like a REALLY heavy rainstorm on the roof of the jeep, but kinda weird. Water makes a drumming noise, but this had drumming and then the weird whispery noise that sand makes when it is sliding off of things too. It was the loudest white noise I have ever heard.
It just went like that for hours and miles. I was so thirsty when we finally got to my house that all I wanted was to not be touched, and drink some water. I felt dirty, like I had been rolling in the dust, but not yucky. But my Mom was LOSING HER MIND. Oh my god. She had been home all day and the cats were FREAKING OUT (especially October, who was extra upset that SOMETHING WAS HAPPENING AND HER BABY WAS IN IT, me being her baby). Mom had an abscess tooth that erupted that morning too (hence my freaky weirdness about going to the dentist if I have any jaw pain at all, regardless of anything else). Mom was fairly certain that I might get buried in ash in the mountains, I think. She had been watching the news obsessively (okay, so that's just her favorite thing to do - she still watches about 5 hours of news each day), so she was really of the opinion that I was coated in sulphuric acid. So when they dropped me off she dropped my stuff off at the door and carried me into the bathroom and tossed me in the shower (fully clothed mind you) and started to rinse me off and rub shampoo in my hair (which was in braids). And I remember trying to calm her down and ask her what the hell she was doing. I finally got it out of her and convinced her that it was *fine* and if I *had* been hit with sulfuric ash I would have been damaged already.
My mom had put damn towels in all of the windows to keep the ash out. I remember that the sun was going down just as it was finally easing off and the sunset was as red as blood mixed with royal purple and the orange of hot coals. It was really pretty. Mom thought we were going to die in the night from lava flow. or mud flow, or possible just the temporary insanity caused by the mixture of pain and too much news.
The next day there was ash piled up everywhere. The streets were covered with it. It was like it had snowed a lot, but it was warm. I have pictures somewhere that I can post when I get them scanned in. I remember hearing that Yakima got 3 feet of ash, but I have no idea if that is true or not. I know we got at least a foot. I know it was everywhere. The whole city just stopped. Nothing was open except a handful of stores. The whole city went to work on getting it cleaned up too. everyone. That whole week, the whole city was *nice* to each other. It was creepy and very twilight zone. But so was the ash. It took 3 days to get it cleaned up enough that it wasn't *everywhere*. They chose somewhere as the ash dump, but I don't remember where it was.
I do remember that the following fall we had apples as big as my head. They were phenomenal. And they were *good* too. I think some of the orchardists around there still use ash and sand in their orchards for the apples they send over seas.
anyway, that's where *I* was and what happened to me on May 18th, 1980.
[eta: I looked it up on a map this year (2009). The place where the cabin was is just to the southwest of Packwood. I can't find it on google maps. I am not at all surprised by this though.]
[edited again in 2011 to add that the cabin was about 20 miles from the volcano. I thought I had added it when I looked it up in 2009, but it seems I failed to mention that bit. I was in a small state of shock to discover it was so close.]
On May 16th, 1980 I went up with my Aunt Janet, Uncle Chris (her husband at the time, she has had 5), all four of my first cousins, and some friends of theirs to my Uncle Chris' cabin that sits just on the Yakima side of White Pass. The property is bordered by one of the rivers over there, but I can't recall if it is the Tieton, Naches, or Yakima. The sun comes up at about 5am in mid-may in this state(as most of us are already aware), so all of the kids were up with the sun. There were fields in front of the cabin that were filled with wild grass, and we used to run and skip and play tag and roll around in them in the summer when we went up there. We had all eaten breakfast together around 6:30 or 7am. So all of the kids were out playing in the "yard". I was always kinda klutzy, so when I was skipping (I used to skip and hop a lot, I liked to bounce HIGH) and came down and fell - well, I assumed I had been klutzy and fallen over, instead of thinking the ground had moved (although it actually *had*). We had been hearing mild thunder in the background that kept getting a little louder with each rumble and the sky was becoming overcast fairly quickly (first light grey clouds, and then darker ones started in). The very first ash that fell was like talcum powder, it was so fine and soft. It was so bizarre, and all of the kids went to the adults for an explanation (they were standing on the porch talking and watching us all). I do not recall which one of them said it but the answer we got was "dry rain, it's fine" so we went back to playing in it and marveling at this strange new weather (dry rain? we had never heard of such a thing), while the adults slipped into the house to find a radio. About 15 or 20 minutes later they came running out and grabbed us and we packed our things hurriedly up and threw them in the cars while the adults were too frantic to tell us what was going on. so we just went with it.
I ended up riding in the jeep wrangler on my Aunt Janet's lap, my uncle Chris was driving and Rufus (the black lab) was in the back - except that Rufus was freaked out and wanted to sit on my lap or Aunt Janet's lap (same place at that time) the whole trip. When we started up the road to the highway we had about 5 yards of visibility, it might have been more but that's about as far as the road went straight in any direction, so I have no idea really. It took us 10 minutes to get to the highway. When we were loading into the cars I looked up and saw the clouds that were moving in. They looked like purplish black thunderheads, there was lighting and thunder and crap pouring out of them. At the highway our visibility was down to about 3 yards. We were going as fast as we could, not talking, listening to the radio and trying to keep the dog off of the driver.
By this time (about 9am) it was really dark out - almost *night* dark out. The powder and turned to something more like sand and we were breathing through our shirts with the windows all up (ugh, stressed out drooling lab smell... GROSSS). The radio was the first place I heard that it was volcanic ash. They said there wasn't any lava yet, but they did not know if there would be soon or when the ash would stop. They said that it was probably full of sulphuric acid so we should all stay out of it or it would burn our skin, which is where I laughed and said that was silly because we were all fine so it had to not be true. I remember my Aunt was weeping and all freaked out and kept squeezing me like I was going to die if she let go a little. The ash kept getting heavier and thicker. And the visibility kept getting worse. and then the jeep started to make these HORRIBLE noises because of all the ash. I remember that my uncle was afraid we would lose the brakes.
The worst the visibility got was less than a foot. We kept moving forward though, because we knew the roads really well and there weren't very many cars on it. We just went *really* slow. It sounded like a REALLY heavy rainstorm on the roof of the jeep, but kinda weird. Water makes a drumming noise, but this had drumming and then the weird whispery noise that sand makes when it is sliding off of things too. It was the loudest white noise I have ever heard.
It just went like that for hours and miles. I was so thirsty when we finally got to my house that all I wanted was to not be touched, and drink some water. I felt dirty, like I had been rolling in the dust, but not yucky. But my Mom was LOSING HER MIND. Oh my god. She had been home all day and the cats were FREAKING OUT (especially October, who was extra upset that SOMETHING WAS HAPPENING AND HER BABY WAS IN IT, me being her baby). Mom had an abscess tooth that erupted that morning too (hence my freaky weirdness about going to the dentist if I have any jaw pain at all, regardless of anything else). Mom was fairly certain that I might get buried in ash in the mountains, I think. She had been watching the news obsessively (okay, so that's just her favorite thing to do - she still watches about 5 hours of news each day), so she was really of the opinion that I was coated in sulphuric acid. So when they dropped me off she dropped my stuff off at the door and carried me into the bathroom and tossed me in the shower (fully clothed mind you) and started to rinse me off and rub shampoo in my hair (which was in braids). And I remember trying to calm her down and ask her what the hell she was doing. I finally got it out of her and convinced her that it was *fine* and if I *had* been hit with sulfuric ash I would have been damaged already.
My mom had put damn towels in all of the windows to keep the ash out. I remember that the sun was going down just as it was finally easing off and the sunset was as red as blood mixed with royal purple and the orange of hot coals. It was really pretty. Mom thought we were going to die in the night from lava flow. or mud flow, or possible just the temporary insanity caused by the mixture of pain and too much news.
The next day there was ash piled up everywhere. The streets were covered with it. It was like it had snowed a lot, but it was warm. I have pictures somewhere that I can post when I get them scanned in. I remember hearing that Yakima got 3 feet of ash, but I have no idea if that is true or not. I know we got at least a foot. I know it was everywhere. The whole city just stopped. Nothing was open except a handful of stores. The whole city went to work on getting it cleaned up too. everyone. That whole week, the whole city was *nice* to each other. It was creepy and very twilight zone. But so was the ash. It took 3 days to get it cleaned up enough that it wasn't *everywhere*. They chose somewhere as the ash dump, but I don't remember where it was.
I do remember that the following fall we had apples as big as my head. They were phenomenal. And they were *good* too. I think some of the orchardists around there still use ash and sand in their orchards for the apples they send over seas.
anyway, that's where *I* was and what happened to me on May 18th, 1980.
[eta: I looked it up on a map this year (2009). The place where the cabin was is just to the southwest of Packwood. I can't find it on google maps. I am not at all surprised by this though.]
[edited again in 2011 to add that the cabin was about 20 miles from the volcano. I thought I had added it when I looked it up in 2009, but it seems I failed to mention that bit. I was in a small state of shock to discover it was so close.]
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 07:49 am (UTC)I recall waking up earlier than usual, right around the time it blew. My g-dsister's dad was the head of the geology department at Portland State (I'm not sure if he was the head then, or if that came later), so suddenly, we were seeing him on the news, a lot. He would bring us buckets of pumice from the mountain.
Three Tree Point got very little ash. I felt somewhat cheated when my g-dsister described the way it fell at their house in Portland.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 08:05 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 04:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 09:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 04:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 10:33 am (UTC)Not as exciting as your story. :)
no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 10:58 am (UTC)I was somewhere in Florida, I think on summer break already and I remember seeing stuff about it on the news, but it was a very distant thing to me, like seeing footage of volcanic eruptions on a nature show or something. It did not impact me as news, but as a scientific curiosity.
(Now, ask me where I was on January 28, 1986 & you'll get a slightly more detailed story, but mostly b/c I was older then and could understand the real impact of news, that it was not just something that just sorta happened somewhere else like in a movie.)
no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 04:13 pm (UTC)I was *just* far way enough from it when it happened to not be able to quite see it over the horizon. We were in science class & a kid from the room next door where they had been watching the lunch live came running in sobbing and said to turn the TV on. We turned it on just in time to see the first replay of the crash. To this day I am very glad I was not watching it live, but I am a big pussy that way.
no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 04:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 11:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-19 04:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-20 07:29 am (UTC)Maybe i'll write mine, or maybe I'll wait until next year.
I have no great memory of it, but I was in an interesting place.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-30 09:37 pm (UTC)what I do remember was that my dad was in the national guard. So he came home everyday for weeks covered in ash. He would be tired from shoveling all day but still managed to muster up a sense of humor like...
"You want a piece of assh?!?"
no subject
Date: 2004-09-30 10:14 pm (UTC)everything had a fine film of dust on it for years afterwards. I probably still have some stuff in my moms storage that is filled with grit. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-05-18 03:30 pm (UTC)I would up that morning because something had cause the house to shake. We thought someone had set off dymamite due to nearby construction. We later learned that it was the shock wave from the eruption.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-18 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-18 07:59 pm (UTC)Mom and Grandmother had to drive back (to Pullman)from Lewiston in it. I was having a nap, it was dark when I woke up and Dad, like any good scientist was all happy and excited "It's five O'clock!" he says, which meant nothing to a 1st grader. He went outside to put the horse in the barn and came back in monochromatic, grinning like an idiot. I don't know if he had information from WSU that it wasn't poisonous, or if he just didn't care, as everyone else was sitting tight until the stuff was analized.
Joel & I went outside the next day, there was a foot or so of it, I think. it was soft and awesome to play in. We had to wear those cone masks, though.
I still remember the smell of those. The stuff we got in Pullman had the consistency of flour. School was closed for two weeks, and it wouldn't settle on the roads, so going anywhere meant near zero visibility.
I remember making ash castles in the yard with the hose. Dad collected 20 jars of the stuff, though for what I don't know. I think he wishes he'd have kept them-especially after seeing the Washington stores selling tiny vials of it for five bucks.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-18 08:42 pm (UTC)and I will never forget the smell of the masks either.
no subject
Date: 2007-05-18 09:14 pm (UTC)His Grandmother says "The volcano blew! Put some paper towels on the lawn and maybe you'll catch some ash!"
They never did find the paper towels.
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Date: 2007-05-18 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-18 08:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-05-18 08:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-19 01:55 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-19 10:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-20 04:09 am (UTC)mine is odd
Date: 2009-05-22 01:51 pm (UTC)But all that day she stayed outside - so she saw the explosion and felt the shock wave - we lived in Edmonds and she was standing on the second floor porch. So she came and got us, and we watched everything on tv.
My highschool band was stuck in Eastern WA in a highschool for almost a week - they had just gotten new band uniforms, and the poor guys were stuck in them for that whole time. It had taken a year to raise the money, and they were all toasted.
I have been in HUGE earthquakes - the 1968 California quake that brought down the freeway overpasses - it was incredible to see... and go through.
And we sat in our car in a ditch while a tornado chewed by just across a field from us in Iowa. That was very scary.
Thanks for sharing your amazing story!!!!
no subject
Date: 2011-05-18 08:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-18 08:18 pm (UTC)oh, I should add to the post that the cabin location was something like 20 miles from the volcano. I thought I had.