Sleepless in Seattle No More… Now Helping Keep Portland Weird

A few days ago I blogged about the first two days of our Seattle visit. Here's the continuation.

3rd Day.


Voodoo.

A few years ago I have chanced upon this show on the Food Network about a certain doughnut house in Portland and I remember writing it on my white board at my old apartment so I would remember it.

That place is Voodoo Doughnuts.

left: maple bacon right: voodoo doll doughnut

notice the pink box (click image to see the whole photo)

We decided to tackle the farthest destination first, Portland, home of the famous Voodoo Doughnut, before heading to Mount St. Helens. My logic was simple: if we saved Portland for later, we’d probably end up exhausted after touring Mt. St. Helens and convince ourselves to skip the longer drive altogether. Looking back, I’m really glad we did Portland first.

We left Seattle at around 6:45 AM and arrived in Portland around 9:30 AM...... only to discover that the line at Voodoo Doughnut was already insanely long. 🤣 We ended up waiting almost an hour for our turn, but honestly, it was worth it.

Before the trip, I had already been researching online which doughnuts we absolutely had to try right away, and we narrowed it down to the Maple Bacon Bar and the iconic Voodoo Doll doughnut.

I wasn’t expecting much from the maple bacon one, to be honest. I mostly wanted to order it purely for the bragging rights. 😂 But surprisingly, it was actually really good. Sweet and salty somehow worked perfectly together.

The hubby was even more skeptical about the Voodoo Doll doughnut because he wasn’t too thrilled about the raspberry filling idea. But the moment he took a bite, he changed his tune pretty quickly. 🤣 The raspberry filling paired surprisingly well with the chocolate frosting. Sometimes the weirdest combinations end up being the memorable ones.

the signature voodoo doughnut

voodoo doughnuts waiting to be frosted

We also ordered an assorted dozen to bring home with us back to Philadelphia. The only request we made was to include two Voodoo Doll doughnuts, for the rest, we told them to surprise us. 🤣

A little tip if you’re planning to bring home a box from Voodoo Doughnut: bring a bag with a wide, sturdy base because carrying those doughnut boxes around can get awkward pretty quickly. Between you and me, ordering two half-dozen boxes instead of one large dozen box is probably smarter since the smaller boxes are easier to fit into reusable grocery bags or tote bags.

And if possible, bring a cooler bag too, especially if you’re flying home later that day. Try to keep the doughnuts cool at least until your flight back home. Ours ended up partially melted, and by the time we unpacked them, the poor Voodoo Doll doughnuts looked like they had survived a crime scene. 🤣

it already melted when we came back from portland
but it didn't change the taste
(2 voodoo dolls & captain crunch not in photo)

Another tip: don’t let the weird names or bizarre-looking doughnuts at Voodoo Doughnut scare you off. 🤣 Whether it’s something called “Cock-N-Balls,” “Dirt Doughnut,” or “Tex Ass,” you really can’t go wrong with anything topped with chocolate, maple, or cream frosting.

Take the Maple Bacon Bar, for example. The maple frosting was so good, and somehow the bacon actually made it even better instead of weird. It reminded me a little of champorado with daing,  that sweet-and-salty combo that sounds questionable until you taste it and suddenly understand the magic. 😂

Honestly, their frostings are the real stars there, so you’re generally in good hands no matter how odd the doughnut looks. I also ended up really liking the Toasted Coconut and the Marshall Matters doughnut.

Click me for more flavors.

saw this while in line for voodoo doughnuts.
i don't know what to make of it, lol

Mt. St. Helen

Originally, we weren’t even planning to rent a car. We had booked a tour operator called the “Mt. St. Helens Small Group Tour,” where the tour operator would pick us up directly from our Seattle hotel and take us to Mount St. Helens. The Mt. St. Helens Small Group Tour was around $225 per person, so everything was supposedly already taken care of for us.

Unfortunately, the tour got canceled.

The hubby was so disappointed that he immediately started looking for alternatives and somehow ended up finding the Helicopter Tour of the Mt. St. Helens instead. 🤣 I honestly wasn’t too excited about the idea at first because it was expensive, around $289 per person, but the hubby kept insisting that I would absolutely love it. He even negotiated a little “financial peace treaty” with me: I’d pay for the rental car, and he’d cover the helicopter tour. Fair enough. 😂

Here's the tour map of the flight we booked.

So the hubby booked the “Summit, Crater, and Devastated Area” flight tour, which lasts around 38–42 minutes. And honestly? Looking back now, I’m really glad he pushed for it.

The helipad was located at Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center, which turned out to be an interesting stop on its own. The visitor center had exhibits, videos, and lots of information showing what the area around Mt. St. Helens looked like before the eruption. Seeing the “before and after” comparisons made the whole experience feel even more surreal.

There’s also a restaurant there called Fire Mountaing Grill, and surprisingly, they served really good burgers.

We arrived ridiculously early because the tour company wanted everyone there at least 30 minutes before the scheduled flight for the safety briefing and paperwork… but of course, we ended up getting there way earlier than necessary. 🤣

left: approaching mt. st helen, below: flying on top of
mt. st. helen's crater

Originally, we were planning to visit the Johnston Ridge Observatory first before our helicopter tour. But after doing the math, we realized we’d only have about 30 minutes there before needing to drive back down to Hoffstadt Bluffs Visitor Center for our flight.

Since we were coming from Portland, we would naturally pass Hoffstadt Bluffs first anyway, then still have another 35-45 minute drive up to Johnston Ridge. At that point we basically said, “Forget it.” 🤣 We decided to just head straight to Hoffstadt instead, even if it meant arriving almost two hours early.

Secretly, we were also hoping they might squeeze us into an earlier helicopter slot….. but no such luck. 😂

After checking in for our tour, the receptionist told us they’d call us once they were ready, so we settled in outside near the restaurant area. They had lots of outdoor tables, which honestly felt like the best place to hang out anyway because of the scenery. We ordered some food and drinks while waiting, wine for the hubby and soda for me.

Then finally…... two hours and fifteen minutes later….... it was time to fly. 🤣🚁

Below is the original 40-minute helicopter footage that we trimmed down into a 10-minute highlight video. If you mainly want to see the actual Mount St. Helens crater, skip ahead to around the 4:17 mark.

GoPro version: Mt St Helens' Helicopter Tour from bluemarlinfish on Vimeo.

It ended up being such an amazing experience. It was actually my very first helicopter ride, so I was really nervous at first. I’m not exactly afraid of heights, as long as whatever I’m standing on isn’t moving. 🤣 Unfortunately for me, helicopters do move, a lot, and this one even had a partial glass floor, which definitely took some getting used to.

For the first few minutes, I was gripping my seat like my life depended on it. 😂 But eventually, the scenery became such a distraction that I slowly forgot to be nervous. And honestly, once you see Mount St. Helens from above, it’s hard to focus on anything else.

Our pilot/tour guide was fantastic too. He circled around the crater three separate times, and each pass brought us closer than the previous one. By the final approach, we were close enough to actually see steam rising from the crater itself. It was surreal,  equal parts beautiful, eerie, and humbling all at once.

Next, it was finally time to drive up to Johnston Ridge Observatory. From all the research I had done beforehand, this seemed to have the best overall viewpoint of Mount St. Helens, even though there are several scenic stops and lookout points scattered along the road leading there.

The observatory was open daily from 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM, and there was an entrance fee of around $8 per person when we visited.

One thing you definitely shouldn’t skip is the free presentation/show inside the observatory. Try to sit as close to the front as possible because it makes the experience even better.

I also really enjoyed the miniature Mt. St. Helens exhibit. It demonstrates how the eruption unfolded using tiny blinking lights to show the path of the landslide, pyroclastic flow, mudslides, and ash flow across the landscape. It sounds simple, but it was actually fascinating to watch because it gives you a much better visual understanding of how massive and destructive the eruption really was.

To activate it, you just press a large blinking button located around the sides of the miniature display. Trust me, you won’t miss it, the button practically screams “PRESS ME.” 🤣

after the show, visitors flocked to the window

After the show we decided to do a little hiking on one of the available trails at the Johnston Ridge Observatory. We only hiked for almost an hour then decided to head back because it's already 6:00pm and the Johnston Ridge Observatory is already closed plus we want to hit the road early because we want to get back to Seattle before it gets dark.

that's how far we hiked and we haven't even scratched the surface

By the way, do you know you can hike to the crater of Mt. St. Helen? Not inside the crater though, because they have a fine of $150 if you did.

the hikers in red circles... didn't notice them until the helicopter pilot pointed it out to us

As incredible as Mount St. Helens was, the one thing I still can’t get over,and what struck me the most emotionally, were the trees destroyed by the eruption.

Seeing entire forests laid flat in one direction was both fascinating and unsettling at the same time. Hill after hill after hill, you could see thousands of trees blown down like scattered matchsticks, all pointing in the same direction. It really gives you a sense of just how massive and violent the blast was, as well as the sheer force behind the eruption itself.

Some trees were still standing, although completely dead and stripped bare, while others were simply tossed across the landscape like toothpicks. No documentary or textbook really prepares you for seeing that in person. It’s one of those moments where the scale of nature suddenly feels very real.

Fascinating.

view from the helicopter hills after hills of tress strewn on the ground like toothpicks

closer view amazing how they all face the same direction (upwards/downwards no horizontals) and yes, these are full grown trees

This reminds me of the Tunguska event in Russia. Where a meteorite exploded in mid-air and knocked over the trees because of the blast. Google for images and compare it with the photos I have above and let me know if you think the same.

Anyway, enough of the nerdiness. There you have it! Seattle and Mt. St. Helen. We wish to go back again some other time and do Mt. Rainier next and maybe hop on a ferry to go to the Tukwila village  and maybe cross over to Vancouver, Canada. Maybe. We'll see.

Mt. St. Helen crater with
Mt. Adam (or is that Mt. Rainier)
in the background
(click for better image)

inside the crater,
the growing lava dome
of Mt. St. Helen
(click for better image)

view of Mt. St. Helen
from the helicopter
(click for better image)

click me to go back to Sleepless in Seattle - Part 1

all photos and videos by yours truly, please do not use without permission.