Thirty years ago today Mt St Helens blew....I remember that day like it was yesterday. I lived here where I still do. My husband was on a back packing trip in the mountains and I was home with our three girls. I had decided to drive over and visit my parents and on the drive there I noticed a huge dark cloud coming...I had never seen anything like it. When I got to my parents my Dad had plastic all over the front yard...of course he told me what had happened and he told me I needed to get back home and stay inside. By the time I arrived back home it was completely dark and it was only three in the afternoon. On my porch was 3 dogs and 4 cats all sitting together and all very scared. I never did find out who they belonged too but they all sat there for over 24 hours.My husband seen the ash cloud coming in all day and he thought we were at war and they came home, hiking in the ash all day in the dark.He didn't know what it was until he arrived home at midnight.