vacation (b)ender, day 4

my mom's last full day on the west coast.

we woke up at the lodge to a cold, foggy, rainy day.  there is actually a mountain buried behind that fog.

no surprise.

we buffeted at the restaurant which was surprisingly good.  they had all fresh food and we took full advantage of it.  a little too much so.

we left behind the cozy lobby and set out up the mountain for a hike.

high elevation, steep inclines, cold rain, fog and full bellies do not make for good hiking.

and yes, that would be snow in the pic above.

at times the sky was beautiful and blue.  and at times you were completely surrounded by clouds.

so off we go.

and more clouds roll in.

the back of the lodge.

other pics from the hike...

sadly the magic sky ride wasn't operating due to bad weather.

and then it was time to leave.

and head to hood river.

lee was determined to stop at packer orchards on the way to hood river.

it's a small road side store that sells fruit, preserves, ice cream, cookies and pies.

lee just wanted the samples.  of which she got.  and we headed on.

you can almost see mt hood behind the clouds.

next up.... hood river and multnomah falls.

vacation bender, day 3

saturday began with massive amounts of rain.

and cold.

and more rain.

our plan was to head to mt hood and stay at the timberline lodge.

so we set out in the rain.

we stopped at bridgeport village to do some shopping first.  there was no reason to hurry to mt hood since the weather sucked.

the weather got worse and worse the closer we got.

and the fog.

we stopped in government camp, the small town at the bottom of mt hood.

finally time to head up the long and windy road to the timberline.

it became harder and harder to see the higher the elevation.  the fog and rain were so bad you could not see 5 feet in front of you.

needless to say, i barely saw the lodge when we arrived.

so we checked into our, um, room.

it was NOT the four seasons.

it was the most expensive rustic, cabin-looking room i've ever stayed in.

the whole lodge was, well, a lodge.

there was a definite creep factor to the place.  

could it be that the outside of the place was in the movie "the shining"?

we ate dinner at one of their restaurants.  surprisingly the food was really good.  even more surprisingly, it was crazy expensive.  even more so than you would think it would be.  but could we really be surprised given the cost of the room?  but still, $17 for a turkey sandwich?

lee polished off her meal with their signature hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps.  

we went for a walk outside.  the place is dark and creepy at night.

we finally went to bed after another day of overindulgence.