Am I about to write about something during the same month that it occurred? Heck yes, I am. Progress, my friends. Progress.
Eric’s parents came to visit over Martin Luther King Jr. weekend, and we lucked out with unusually dry and sunny weather for an Oregon January.
We attempted to do some fun stuff around Mount Hood, but had to turn around when the snow was too deep for driving, gave up on lunch when the restaurant had an hour-long wait, and made a quick exit when the park was filled with a prison clean-up crew. But we prevailed and visited Timberline Lodge, which is always magnificent.
I’m always collecting ideas for our someday cabin in the woods, and I don’t think something like this is too much to ask, right?
And we managed to hit up this view at the perfect golden hour moment.
We also took a stroll through Forest Park (the love of my Portland life) and ate one delicious meal after another (the other love of my Portland life).
Once the family left, we still had a whole day of vacation (bless you, 3-day weekends) to do as we pleased. So we woke up freakishly early, picked up doughnuts, and headed to Jonsrud Viewpoint to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, the sunrise was a bit of a bust, despite the dozen or so photographers there to enjoy it that morning, but it led to a visit to Dodge Park, a lovely little spot along the Sandy River. I’m not sure there’s anything more calming than an Oregon River just after sunrise.
Then we headed to the mountains for the main event: snowshoeing up Lookout Mountain. (You can check out the summer view here.) We’re always doing a bit of speculating about the weather in the mountains, never really knowing where the sun/fog/snow/rain/ice/clouds will begin and end. Our drive around Mount Hood had all of the above, but ended in (mostly) sunshine. We couldn’t make it all the way up the road to the trailhead, but parked along the side and snowshoed the last bit to get on the trail. I’m not sure when it had last snowed in the area, but we were the only tracks in the snow, aside from some animal prints that we think belonged to a cougar? Luckily, they were going in the opposite direction of our trail, but that didn’t stop me from thinking every single boulder was a mountain lion.
By the way, how fun is this new hat by our pals at Cowbucker? So fun.
The views from the top were as spectacular as expected. Fog rolling through the mountains. Mount Hood in your face. Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens, Mount Rainier, Mount Jefferson, and the Three Sisters. Oregon, you are divine.
We followed up our snowshoe with a late lunch in Hood River at Solstice, where we got an extra pizza for free because they dropped one of our slices on the floor. #blessed
Here’s to the 3-day weekend, improving lives every few months.
-Ally
Elizabeth says
Duddddddeeeeee those foggy tree pictures are life! Print those for sure!!!
Roberta K. Devers says
Awesome pics of an awesome place. We went to the Timberline Lodge too. Beautiful place! Love Mt. Hood. Your photos make me want to come back!!!!
Roberta K. Devers says
Awesome pics of an awesome place. We went to the Timberline Lodge too. Beautiful place! Love Mt. Hood. Your photos make me want to come back!!!!
Roberta K. Devers says
Fantastic photos! Makes me want to come back, even with the snow!
judy w. geckeler says
Awesome pictures and awesome writing. You are so descriptive in a fun sort of way which makes your writing so fun to read. Love the hat!!
Dana says
Ha! It’s hard to know for sure because the ditches were a contiguous snow berm when we were up there, but 90% sure you took that picture at Top Spur standing almost exactly where we missed the edge and got stuck in the ditch snow for hours. That curve in the road looks verrrrrrrry familiar. I had a lot of time to contemplate my choices and surroundings while shoveling snow 🙂
Ally says
Haha, Dana, we were attempting to visit Lost Lake. I think we made it about a mile from the lake. But we did Top Spur back in December and saw SO many people stuck in the snow!