Also, where should we fly into- we have an even there and the hotel looks dingy- any nice accomodations?

St. Helens is 40 miles north of Portland, which is where you'd fly into, and where the nearest nice hotels are located. Check out Skamania Lodge if you're looking for a more country/mountain experience. It's closer to St. Helens than Portland, but travel time would probably be longer.

Ditto what Beachbum said.

Mt. St. Helen's is closed right now because of the ongoing eruptive state of the volcano. All the trails are closed around the mountain to hiking, so you won't see much close up. The new dome is continuing to build daily and there are small erruptions happening of ash and gas.

Have you seen the Mt. St. Helen's cam site? It updates pictures of the volcano every few minutes so you are getting almost live pictures. I'll try to find the web address and post it here for you.

Here's one webcam:

http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/volcanocams/msh/index.shtml

Hope this helps...

Castle Rock, WA, is 57 miles north of Portland and the drive to the visitor center is another hour or so on a scenic, two-lane road. You should be able to find a descent Comfort Inn, Holiday Inn, or such in the Kelso-Long View area a few miles south of Castle Rock, which is the turn off to the park.

I'd suggest you stay in Portland. It's a one hour drive up I-5 to the first National Park Service visitor's center at Silver Lake. There are two other National Park visitors centers as you drive up the mountain. Check the website for the park for more information on these centers and whether or not they are open:
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/mshnvm/

I also highly recommend Skamania Lodge although a day or two in Portland would be great too. Skamania Lodge is in the Columbia Gorge and the scenery there is a must see, just like the volcano. There is a back way to Mt. St. Helens via good county and national forest roads. Anyone at the lodge or visitors center in Stevenson can direct you. There is also a series of Lewis & Clark events along the gorge all season in 2005. Bonneville Hot Springs Resort hotel is also a great and undiscovered gem.

There are 3 entrances to Mt. St. Helens National Monument. This is where they are briefly described on the website:
http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/04mshnvm/g...planning.shtml

Sara, what do you hope to see and learn about during your trip? You should understand the 3 routes lead to different experiences on the mountain and provide different viewpoints. The 3 entrances do not intersect. The main entrance that contains the most educational information and provides the best (if not the only) crater view, is from I-5, to the west. The NPS has built 3 excellent visitors centers, on this route. The other routes have rangers stations and feature other interesting attractions, but the main route is from I-5 at Castle Rock and I would strongly advise going that route for a first experience on the mountain.

we are actually going to a wedding in the area- so we must stay close (since we may have a few cocktails).

Sara8374, I'm sure you can find a suitable motel. Beware of the Red Lion Inn (Longview or Kelso), which was badly in need of renovation when we stayed there last. Lovingheart

Okay Sara, but you said nice hotels and the nearby fare is strictly motels in the Comfort Inn class and down. None of them really stand out to be recommended, but the best ones are certainly adequate. In that class are the Best Western in Kelso and in Woodland, the Comfort Inn in Kelso, the Guesthouse Suites in Kelso. These are roadside motels not nice hotels. This seems to be a pretty complete listing from what I have seen: http://www.remembersthelens.com/visit/hotel_motel.html

I've stayed in Castle Rock- I think there are only 2 motels - clean and adequate- nothing special - there is also a B&B I believe called the Blue Heron - check out the CastleRock website- its listed there.