Longview

 This city of about 40,000 people was often our family road trip destination. Summers were our family's time to visit Grandma and, while embracing many adventures along the way, we would stop in Longview for up to two weeks. Over those two weeks we'd make multiple trips to the Library, watch dad, Grandma and Uncle Mark play bridge and explore the nearby area.
 In the middle of Longview sits Lake Sacajawea...my grandma lives right on it. It's a pretty good sized lake and the trail around it has often provided for our walks to the playground and, one older, a 3.7 mile running path for me to escape to.

 I've heard Grandma talk about how this lake used to have clean, clear water running through pipes under it, keeping the lake pristine. When Mt. St. Helens erupted in 1980, the pipes became clogged with ash and were never cleaned out, rendering Lake Sacajawea no longer able to support activities like swimming and canoeing as there became issues with pollution and algae blooms. Once when I was in high school science class, we watched a video of the Helens eruption. It features my grandma's house as it began discussing the effect the eruption had on nearby communities. I loves hearing stories about the eruption from Grandma as Mount Saint Helens in a mere 30 minute drive from her house.

  Located on both the Lower Columbia and Cowlitz rivers, Longview has become an industrial town, mainly dealing in timber and wood products. Driving into town as kids, I can recall being saddened by the number of logs stacked up along the river for processing of shipment (insert shameless plug to recycle paper and use cloth napkins). In all seriousness, even then the huge patches of clear-cut forest we'd drive past in Washington and Oregon would break my heart.

(Mount Saint Helens)

  The last thing I want to mention about Longview is the claim to fame it holds for any visiting child. Over by the library hangs the Nutty Narrows Bridge. Built in 1963, it is the only bridge in the world constructed specifically for squirrels, its purpose to avoid casualties in the road below. It was always an exciting to treat to go watch squirrels scamper across it.

 There are lots of fun, quirky things to love about Longview but more than anything else, what I loved about this place if the family that it held. It doesn't seem as if saying art projects or helping in the garden would be enough to make me love a place but really, that's exactly the situation. I love Longview for my family and anything we did together here just helped to enrich my appreciation for this little mill town.