We were pretty cold on the Oregon coast and made sure to always have our jackets with us. But the last few days in Hood River it has been down right hot. While we had to run the furnace at night on the coast we’ve got the windows wide open up here. It’s been a welcome change in the weather! But when I opened the truck door in the parking lot at the Timberline Lodge on Mt Hood I realized I didn’t have my jacket. The kids had all thought to bring jackets and Steph had a wind breaker tucked away in her bag (that bag is bottomless it seems). But there I was in shorts, t-shirt, flip flops and a hatless head. Now, I had brought socks and shoes so I changed into those, sucked it up and went out to check this mountain out.
Being a Monday there weren’t a bunch of looky-lus like us hanging around. But the lot was full of hippy vans, camper trucks, and 1990s vintage Subarus because all the die hard ski bums were up here to ski. That’s right, there is a ski resort on Mt. Hood that remains open all year long!! We wandered the trails around the Timberline Lodge and saw one pointing to the Pacific Crest Trail. Oh yeah!!! I’ve watched a ton of documentaries and travelogues on the PCT and now I remember that many hikers treat themselves to a night at this lodge as they get ready to walk across Washington to finish their hike at the US-Canada border (without firewood).
We took turns walking around the inside of the Timberline Lodge since we had Sheba with us. It was so nice relaxing on the back deck of the lodge in the sun and looking up at the last 5,000 feet of glacier covered peak. We treated ourselves to some coffee and hot cocoa to warm our hands and bellies while we soaked in the view.
On the way down the mountain we went right through a bunch of vineyards and orchards so we had to stop and check out one of each. Steph did a full set of tastings at the Mt Hood Winery before selecting a few bottles as gifts and then we got fresh cherries from the the Gorge White House orchard next door. We got a bag of Rainier cherries and one of Tieton cherries…soooooo good!!!!
Back at the rig we rested a bit and did some preparing for an EARLY departure tomorrow and a LONG drive. The boys and I explored the river here at the park and then took showers. Steph made one of our family favorite dinners we call Carino’s Noodles (named after the old chain restaurant we copied the recipe from) then Dacen built a fire for s’mores. You can never have too many campfires or too many s’mores!!!
Those s’mores look soooooo good!!!!!!