Mt. Hood is a popular destination, especially on federal 3-day weekends. We jumped into the Mt. Hood Meadows caravan & got to the top in less than 90 minutes. The parking lot was neary full at 8:30; the park opened at 9:00!I was a little tentative at first, and then lost all confidence as we got off the Cascade lift, only to find ALL blue ("harder") courses. I fell down 4 times, & snapped my ski out of the binding once. Whew! We spent the afternoon skiing green ("easier"), which I enjoyed much more.
Paul experienced a little drama too - had a close call. He slippedand almost fell, jamming the butt of his pole into his eye instead. Luckily he was wearing his goggles, so it deflected onto his cheek. The rest of the day he looked like this:
...except he only had one rosy cheek, and a bloody letter "D" was imprinted smack dab in the middle of it! Lucky for him, it didn't affect his skiing. He didn't fall down once!
We took the "Fruit Loop" road home, driving through Hood River to catch the interstate. In June or July, there is a huge Fruit Loop drive promo - so many roadway miles of fruit farms & stands, arranged in a big loop. We couldn't tell what kind of fruit they were growing, b/c all the signs just said "Fruit," and their orchards were bare. What grows in an orchard? Apples, cherry, pears, ??? Maybe we'll get to find out this summer, potential visitors & sightseers.
In Hood River, I made a quick stop at *$$ (Starbucks, notated in the checkbook log - it just takes to long to write it out every time), and we were home by dinnertime.
That was our fun, bank-breaking weekend!
- A
