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Not only did the winds help Portland stay ash-free on May 18, the direction the mountain actually blew did too. From Portland, the Mt just looks like it got chopped off, but from other directions you can see the huge chunk taken out of the side, too.
I remember my Dad was flying for work quite a bit then, and from what he said, the Air Traffic Controllers must have loved it when there were clear days - 'cause all the airplanes requested to go around the mountain to show the passengers.
I also remember what Mom did with us one weekend (or maybe it was Spring Break) earlier that year - the mountain had been rumbling and the "zones" were set up by the governor (Dixie Lee Ray, I think) - it was a great day weather-wise, and so we drove up I-5 a ways so we could look at the mountain "before it changed forever".
I'm going to visit the area for the 4th of July and hope to be able to go to at least one of the visitor's centers finally. I heard one of them has a movie they show of the erruption, and then they open the curtains and you see what it looks like from just about the same angle live.
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