Retirement update: We can see Mt. Hood from our living room (on days the mountain shows itself) We look for it every day and it has become a part of our lives. Tiffany and Jackson go up on the mountain for skiing and snowboarding several times a winter but Bill and I have only seen it from a distance. Yesterday we decided to go to the mountain. Crossing over to Oregon in the morning, we took route 26 toward the mountain, climbing through pine trees, past camping grounds and then “Snow-parks” In a little over an hour we were approaching Timberline Lodge, a WPA project from the 1930’s. It’s more recent claim to fame was its exterior being used in Jack Nickerson’s “The Shining” in 1980. The lodge was built during the depression using mostly local materials, local labor and local artisans. The iron work (grates, stairwell railings, hanging lamps, even latches and hinges, etc) all done by local blacksmiths. Carvings and art works done on site,. Even the fabrics for curtains and bedspreads were woven and appliqued locally, and the rugs for the floors were latched by workers who were mostly on “relief” Dedicated by FDR in 1936 the property declined after WWII but was restored in the 1950’s, made an historical landmark and has been well maintained since. Lunch was great! We usually do not like buffets, preferring to order what we want from a fixed menu, but I wanted to sit at the window seat available in that restaurant. Great roasted fingerling potatoes and fresh steamed vegetables, moist roasted turkey and tender beef brisket with an amazing array of mini tarts, pies, cheesecakes, bars and truffles for dessert. We split a few. Bill pronounced that he could just stay there all day and make a pig of himself. In spite of my intense dislike of heights, we took the chair lift a mile up the mountain and back down. The view is incredible! The lodge is actually built on the timberline. It is all trees and vegetation below it but above and behind it is rocks,dirt and more rocks. … And snow, there is still snow there, a glacier that they are still skiing and snowboarding on, from the top of the lifts down to the lodge. O.K. it seems more like ice than snow, but it is not man made and there are lots of skiers there using the large field of it. The day ended by going all the way around the mountain. Taking route 35 to the east, we followed the Hood River down into the valley past the little town of Mt. Hood, past the fruit stands of the Hood River fruit loop, to the wind surfers on the Columbia River. The Bridge of the Gods brought us back in Washington and we drove back down the gorge to home.
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 15:50:17 +0000
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