three years ago

i had to head out to vernonia today to cover the groundbreaking of a new school there. actually, i volunteered to make the one-hour trip there. i'd been to vernonia once before in 2008 to cover the one year anniversary of a flood that just really wrecked the small town. i was curious to see what it looked like these days. plus, for whatever reason, i find vernonia pretty charming. here's what i wrote. and here are some photos i took while i was out there today. (they don't really do this town justice.)


since the flood, many homes have been raised up off the ground, like this one.


others have been completely destroyed. their lots put up for sale.


the land where the new school will be located.


one of vernonia's churches.