Today was Mt. Hood day for VacationGirl and family. After completing mundane tasks, like laundry (that she swore she wasn't going to do on this trip), they hit the road for Mt. Hood - Oregon's tallest mountain and the 3rd largest in the Cascade peaks.
The drive took the vacation family through parts of the Columbia River Gorge. They got so caught up in scenery that they missed their exit - by 12 miles! Tomorrow is Columbia River Gorge day so no diversionary trips were taken but all she can say is WOW! No pictures of the WOW stuff yet - that will be tomorrow - but WOW - it was beautiful.
But back to Mt. Hood. As we turned off of I-84 to Rt 35, we began to catch glimpses of the rock - and a large rock it is - 11,239 feet tall. Even half bare, it is still a beautiful mountain - as seen in the picture below:
There was a sign for Sahalie Falls so of course, the it just had to be visited. As the vacation family took this narrow, winding road, they were suddenly stopped at a stone bridge by barracades across the road.
To walk or not to walk. Well, we all know VacationGirl's choice - but VacationGirl's adventurous husband walked a few feet to the bridge. Much to everyone's amazement, there was no walking involved this time - other than the few steps to the bridge. And once those steps were taken, they were treated to this view:
After spending a suitable amount of time admiring the falls, the trip up to Timberline Lodge was started. Timberline Lodge stands at the 6,000 foot mark on the mountain - where most of the skiing and snowboarding takes place. Talk about a freaky sight - there were tons of skiers and snowboarders around - in August!
What's up with that?
Because Mt. Hood is so tall, people can enjoy year-round skiing and 'boarding. Kinda cool - but snow skiing was never a favorite pasttime of VacationGirl. Tried it - hated it. Adventurous husband claims to like skiing and almost 16 year-old wants to learn to snowboard - but they'll be doing it without VacationGirl. Hey, maybe she will go along and drink whoosie drinks in the lodge - yeh - that works! But, skiing and snowboarding are not in the picture today so, because of that, the whoosie drinks are not happening either.
As the Trailblazer made it's way down the mountain, another large mountain popped up in front of them. Where did this one come from? It wasn't there when the trip UP the mountain was made!
VacationGirl is thinking that these things are just like prairie dogs - they just pop up all over the place.
Curiousity got the better of adventurous husband so he stopped at a teeny tiny little store on the guise of needing something to drink. But as he walked out of the "store" with a smirky little grin, VacationGirl knew he found the answer to the question that plagued her - Mt. Adams! (Didn't know there was a Mt. Adams, but there is!) It's the second largest in the Cascade range but it's in Washington, not Oregon and since Mt. Rainier overshadows it, it's just the poor red-headed step child of a mountain. Poor thing! As they made their way down the road, Mt. Adams disappeared behind the scenery of the Columbia River Gorge - dispelling the fact that they just magically pop up - the mystery had been solved.
Since all they mysteries of life (or at least mountains) had been solved for the day, VacationGirl and family made their way back to their 'home away from home' and played Canasta before hitting the sack (and writing blog entries).
Off to the historic Columbia River Gorge highway Saturday. See ya then!
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