i tried to ford the river, but my oxen died

After a particularly rainy week, it became decidedly warm and not rainy out. So my friend Keith and I decided we had been indoors long enough and drove up to Mt Hood (our local volcano) and attempted to go hiking.

We planned everything except for the where on the mountain we were going part. After a gorgeous drive out, we started ascending the mountain, but failed to find a suitable trail head. Pressing on we quickly found ourselves high above the timber line. There *is* something fun about snow at the end of April.

The snow on the side of the road was higher than the car itself, so it got to the point where there was no possibility of getting out. We thought about heading back down the mountain and trying again, but decided to stop at Timberline to see if they had any maps we could snag.

Timberline, as you may know, was the exterior of The Overlook in The Shining (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timberline_Lodge). Yeah, Oregon’s famous like that.  However, as with most movies, or Cheers, very little of what you remember from the movie actually exists at the lodge. Like the hedge maze. Sadly that was fabricated.

Anyway, we got out of the car in our shorts and realized how warm it was, even that far up, so instead of driving about we decided to start walking up into the snow.  We didn’t climb that high up the mountain, but trudging the the snow is tiresome.  Thankfully the snow was packed so as to be mostly solid as opposed to 12 foot snow drifts.

The novelty of walking in the snow in shorts and tee-shirts not lost to us, we snapped a few photos.  Sadly, the jPhone not being a real camera, couldn’t compensate for the glare of the sun off the snow and as I guesseed, all my photos turned blue.  Keith had a real camera and snapped a few that turned out much better.  I’ve linked to the photos at the bottom.  I think I removed most of the ones I took as the blue tint is rather annoying.

We only stayed in the snow for about an hour before getting back to the car, and it wasn’t what we had planned, but it was still a rather fun day as a result.  And I know I definitely got snowburned as a result; my face was quite red when I got home.

We have talk of bringing a tarp next time and putting a blanket down and having a picnic in the snow.  Ah Oregon, how I love thee.  OH! And today is Star Wars Day!  May the 4th be with you!

Timberline Lodge

Tags: friends, hiking, jPhone, mt hood, photos, weather
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So one of the interesting aspects of moving somewhere very far away is the type of disasters that happen.  Getting a blizzard here would phenomenal.  Getting one in Pennsylvania, while not common place, wouldn’t be anything that special.

One thing that happens here with enough frequency so as not to be extremely shocking, is landslides.  On Wednesday, a house near the main campus of where I work slowly started coasting down the hill and into the neighbours’ houses.  Click the picture for a larger image, or you can read about it here.

I don’t live anywhere near any hills, so I’m in no danger of landslides.  Now if Mt Hood decided to blow, that’d be another story…

Tags: disasters, mt hood, pdx, work
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There are a number of cool things to do in Portland that locals don’t often get to.  You know how it is, you drive past it every now and again and think “I really should go see that.” But inevitably you never do.  There’s a museum in Milford that has the flag that cradled Lincoln’s head after he was shot.  We all knew that.  Everyone in Milford knows that.  But it wasn’t until the end of High School, having taken the bus past it daily, that I finally decided to visit.  It’s just how these things go.

At any rate, the Pittock Mansion is, I would wager, one of those places.  Every Portlander knows about it.  The ones who have lived her longer may have even visited it back in the day.  But it’s not a place one just goes to out of the blue.  And then we forget how cool it is.

Last night was Open Door night at the Pittock.  While I’m still shakey (read: know almost nothing) on its history, suffice it to say that it’s a big ole’ mansion on top a great big hill.  Kinda like Grey Towers.  Except with a better view.  And yesterday was one of those “hot” days in Portland.  I put quotes around it because it’s like summer in the east coast, minus the humidity and condensed into four days spread throughout the warmer months.  So it’s tolerable.  Except Portlanders are wusses when it comes to weather

Anyway, being that the mansion is high up in the West Hills, it was significantly cooler.  So my friend Kimmet, her boyfriend Bryan and I decided to stop at Whole Foods on the way up and grab some delicious food for a picnic dinner on the lawn.  It was a gorgeous night, and so much better than sweating in our respective apartments.  As it got darker, the somewhat-full moon rose over the city and Mt Hood was on fire from the setting sun.  It was excellent.

The jPhone is good for a great many things, but its camera is sometimes lacking. Even still, the photos didn’t turn out too poorly.  I do wish I could crop some of them in magnify what’s left, but the resolution isn’t that great.  Okay, enough rambling.  The five or six pictures that I actually kept in all their technological glory:

Pittock Mansion

Tags: friends, jPhone, mt hood, pdx, photos, weather
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I’m currently at The Japanese Gardens, having just taken a tour. It
ended at the amazing view of Mt Hood. I don’t think I’ll
ever get tired of it.

Tags: japanese gardens, mt hood, pdx
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