Timberline
Normally I travel alone, but this time my wife wanted to come with me since she has never been to one of my classes. When I travel alone I simply go to my destination, do my thing and return the next day. I’m not a very good tourist, however my wife is and I’ve heard her mention that she has never been to certain places, so I try to plan some extra side trip time into my plans.
There is a point when you drive over Mt. Hood in any direction you find your windshield filled with the fantastic and majestic mountain. Your entire windshield frame is filled with the sight of pristine snow and rocky out-crops. It’s hard watching the road.
Though my wife has been to Mt. Hood before she has never been to the Timber Line Lodge. It has been 20 years since I had last been there. For those of you that have never been to Oregon but who have seen the film, “The Shining”, that’s Timberline.
Expecting the Central Oregon heat she was dressed in shorts. I didn’t tell her we were going there. The temperature was probably 30 degrees with a 60 MPH mountain wind. I had always visited Timberline in August when you could actually see the first two floors and not have to go up to the third floor to look out the window.
There is a lot of great WPA art and craft work there. If you want to see some got to flickr.com and search Timberline Lodge.
Somehow Mt. Hood doesn’t creep me out. I’ve been on mountains before that are just creepy; Mt. Washington in New Hampshire is particularly creepy. Mt. St. Helens is pretty creepy. I don’t know why Mt. Hood isn’t creepy to me. Standing there at 6000 feet in elevation looking at geology that suggests a violent volcanic past and knowing there are many steam vents and hot springs in the area are a constant reminder that the mountain has a direct connection to the magma at the core of the earth. Just below where I stand is a potential explosion waiting to happen at any moment gives on an uneasy feeling when you think about it. The trick is to not think about it.
We spent a pleasant couple of hours there, and we plan to go and spend the night sometime this summer.
posted by The Guy Who Writes This at 4:00 AM
9 Comments:
I've never seen a mountain I considered "creepy". I love mountains!
Aw, how sweet. You are such a softy, Guy!
You didn't sneak a jacket and pants of hers into your bag?
Donna, you need to visit Mt Washington in New Hampshire. It even creeps out the locals. Yankee Magazine even did a story on it once.
Auntie, who said I wasn't.
Lori, that deserves it's own post. Look for it next week.
I've always loved the mountains. I'm not all that big on going up and down them, but I do love looking at them. I was disappointed in these small mounds the call the Ozark mountains here. If there were hills this small in Oregon people would try to excavate into them thinking they were indian burial mounds. And the part of the state I'm in now doesn't even have those. Instead of hillbillies, we are just infested with flatbillies.
Thanks alot. You've managed to make me homesick again.
Posts like this totally make me homesick. When I was in high school we spent a week at a cabin in Zigzag and spent our days exploring around Mt. Hood. Good times! :-)
I went cross country skiing on Spirit Lake a month before the mountain blew! Always wondered why it was called "spirit lake" the when it disappeared after the mountain blew and showed up somewhere else we knew why the Indians named it "spirit".
Oh, by the way, did you know some corals with known toxic properties include Palythoa, Sarcophyton, mushrooms and green stars. Palythoa is by far the most deadly. Palythoa has the capability to kill a rabbit after an injection of only 25 nanograms. A toxic dose for humans would be about 4 micrograms. In fact, palytoxin is considered the most toxic organic poison known to humankind.
Symptoms of palythoa poisoning are well-described, due to their unique position as the world’ s most powerful poison: chest-pains, difficulty breathing, racing pulse and low-blood pressure. Death occurs within minutes, and there is no treatment.
You know, just in case I forget to forward the info to you and you decide to go kayaking near some coral. Safety is my middle name!
Sounds good to me, as long as everyone comes back in one piece.
Darev and Stephanie, I live to make you home sick, hehehe.
CB weren't you supposed to post this on my sick day article?
Jay, we will avoid the room that has REDRUM painted on the door. And welcome to Rust, Jay. I love Canadians!
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