Cousins Tour - Mt Hood

Hello there!  We've sure been adventuring a lot this past week!  My 2 cousins, Nancy and Melanie, and their husbands, Paul and Charlie came for a weeklong visit and I planned our week to show them wonderful places in Oregon.  First up was the Columbia River Gorge, then they spent the night in Hood River. We all went to dinner at the Columbia Gorge Hotel, too.  On Wednesday Dayle and I drove to Hood River and we all headed up to Panorama Point to show them Mt. Hood and the Hood River Valley - you're looking over many farms which grow apples, pears and cherries.

We pulled over at a fruit stand and my cousins purchased some apples, we got some huckleberry jam and syrup.  

This will be good over pancakes, don't you think?  Next to the fruit stand was a hard apple cider shop and everyone bought a bottle to try.

We drove higher and higher and took the turn on up to Timberline Lodge - there was a pullout which I took and we got this shot of the Mt. Hood.  :-)

If you turn to the right, you look out over many mountains with a bird's eye view.  :-)

This is the front entrance of Timberline Lodge - we actually took these the next day as when we arrived they were dismantling the winter snow cover entrance and it was sunny.

It's such a big lodge you can hardly get a photo of the whole thing.  To learn the history of the lodge, click HERE.

Here is a painting which gives you the idea of how the lodge sits at the tree line and nestles at the base of the mountain.

We found our room and settled in for a bit.  We opened the windows and let the fresh air blow in.

There were children playing in the snow and laughing and shouting, it was fun to hear them.  Our "view room" had a tree in front of the mountain.. lol.

The room was rustic, rather small, but comfortable.

A fireplace was ready for a fire in the evening.

The others had done some exploring and found live music on the stone plaza behind the lodge so we joined them to enjoy the sunny afternoon in wooden Adirondack chairs while listening to a woman sing her own songs and play the guitar.  With this view.. what a wonderful memory.

Do you see the chair-lift up the mountain?  Snow-cats were taking skiers up and the people were skiing down.. and they'd schuss right in front of us as they reached the bottom of the run.

Nancy and Paul were enjoying themselves immensely.

Our musician.

There is a wonderful weathervane on top of the chimney, hand-wrought iron from when the lodge was built.

The massive stone fireplace that rises from the bottom level up to the top.  I watched a lodge employee start a fire in there after I snapped this image.

There is a sofa right in front of this window looking at the peak of the mountain.  I enjoyed the view for a while before heading to our room for a bit.

The Cascade Dining Room is readying for the dinner hour.  We actually found a lovely niche in the Ram's Head Bar for dinner with a view out over the landscape.

After a wonderful dinner together we all retired to our rooms for the evening.  When we got back to our room there was a plate with two chocolate dipped strawberries waiting for us! :-)

Dayle built a roaring crackling fire for us for the evening.

He felt a lump in the bed and pulled back the covers to discover two hot water bottles warming the bed for us.  :-)

I checked out while Dayle loaded our luggage in the car.  I snapped a few photos of the main level, they have a small museum area for visitors.  Don't you love the way they used wood and stone to build this lodge?

An old ram's head carving.

All the curtains and chair upholstery was hand woven for the lodge, here is an old loom like they used.  Several years back there was a restoration of the fabrics and a friend of mine, Linny Adamson, worked on the project and eventually became the curator of the lodge, a job she still holds.  To learn more about the restoration, click HERE.

And so we waved farewell to Mt. Hood and headed west to the Oregon Coast.  I will share photos of that adventure in a few days.  We all loved our time in the lodge and had a great time.

And so.. we're resting up now.  :-)  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)