This has been bumped off our list several years in a row, but this year we made it happen, since it was our last chance to have a good adventure together before Will went off to Sandhill.

This is part of our 100 Things in 2016 challenge. Here’s the full list.

It so happened that we ended up with a gorgeous June day. We did a bit of hiking (though Becky’s hip was flaring up, so we had to keep it small). We gave each of the kids a camera so they could capture the day from their point of view; their photos are mixed in with ours below.

We hit both visitors centers – the Johnson Ridge Observatory that overlooks the crater, and the Forest Learning Center on the way back down. Both had great exhibits, and the kids were fascinated. There were several films about what it must have been like on the day the mountain erupted.

As a bonus on the way home, we visited a 28-foot-tall Bigfoot statue and a house that got half buried by the eruption. Will’s been on a Sasquatch kick lately, and he had a great time. Lucy was skeptical.