the cold before the snow

Hello everyone! I had the weekend that just wouldn’t quit. Today (Thursday) is my first day at work since last Friday. Our long holiday weekend (Monday off for MLK) was extended even further by a surprise snowstorm which left 3-4 inches in Portland. I know, “3-4 inches!?!?” the Midwesterners scoff but this city is not set up for snow. A couple inches shuts it down. It’s finally warming up and the roads are full of slush & mushy snow.

Friday after work I stopped at a park near the college and watched Mt Hood turn pink in the evening alpenglow. From there I drove straight to Mt Tabor Park where I saw the McNaught Comet glowing in the orange sky of sunset above downtown Portland. It was a pretty fantastic start to my weekend. I stayed at home that night and watched some Netflix and read my book. I packed my bags so I was ready to go early the next morning.

Saturday morning I hit the road by 9:15 and headed up the Gorge. I took the Historic Columbia River Highway so I could stop to take photos of the frozen waterfalls. It’s been freaky cold around here. My daffodils that started blooming have come to a halt by the lows in the teens. My first stop was Latourell Falls. The dramatic plunge of the falls creates a huge amount of mist that blows around in the canyon and freezes, layer upon layer, on everything in sight. I couldn’t even walk to the end of the trail near the falls as it was so slippery I knew I’d go right off the trail. Crampons would have been extremely useful. I took photos of the branches encased in ice, the strange icicles and the cliff walls white and frozen. I went on to Wahkeena Falls and got some nice photos of the icy rocks rising out of the tumbling stream. From there I went to Multnomah Falls where I was really starting to feel the cold. I took pictures of the wall of icicles on the cliffs then went to the falls itself. While I was taking photos of the splash pool with the blue ice swirling around I noticed something terrible…my camera wasn’t functioning correctly. The zoom button had gone soft with no resistance. It was either zoomed all the way in or all the way out with no in between options. Suddenly everything seemed to stop working, the buttons to page through the photos, the exposure correction, even the shutter release button wouldn’t work sometimes. I had to keep turning the camera on & off to get it to take a photo. I left Multnomah Falls and stopped at one last place, Horsetail Falls. The ice is always incredible here from the huge amounts of spray off the water. With much difficulty I took some photos then climbed into my car, blasted the heat and prayed the camera was unhappy about the cold temperatures and would return to normalcy.

I drove on to Trout Lake where the snow on the ground was compacted and crunchy and the sun was shining. Mt Adams was looking huge against the perfect blue sky. I unloaded my stuff into Wampler’s living room and made some lunch for Dave and I while Wampler ate some rocks (his words). He’s on a detox diet and was juicing veggies and taking lots of supplements. After eating Dave & I layered up (thank goodness for snowpants) and headed over to Abe & Jenny’s house. Our friends Jimmy & Andrea (who used to run the Trout Lake Country Inn) are living on a trailer on their property. Abe and Jenny’s house was just built and is still under construction but it’s already an amazing house. The huge woodburning stove was fantastically warm and cozy. Dave and I decided to investigate the sledding hill on the upper portion of the property owned by a guy named Al. I’ve never met Al and he hasn’t lived in Trout Lake for a couple years but I’ve heard about his property and specifically his amazing hot tub. I was eager to finally check it out for myself.

Dave and I drove to the bottom driveway then began the walk up the snowy hill in the forest. I took photos and Daisy sniffed all that she could. We decided that the sled run looked to be certain death. There were several fallen trees across the path and the icy snow would have been extremely painful if you went flying off the sled. We continued on to the top of the hill where I would proceed to freak out. At the back of the house was a hot tub then a steep drop off and the most incredible view. You could see the town of Trout Lake, the vast forest and Mt Adams rising dramatically to the north. The hot tub is heated by a woodburning stove so it’s rather labor intensive. I was told it had a leak too which makes it pretty impossible to use as you would have to constantly be stoking the fire and bring up loads of wood up and down the hill. Dave and I hung out there for a while and marveled at the view before heading back down to Abe & Jenny’s house.
We reported back that the sledding was only for those with a death wish. We watched some football games then went downstairs and the guys played some music. Then we watched some more football (on Tivo so no commercials!) then the guys played some more music. Jenny whipped up some delicious snacks and we hung out and played liar’s dice and hovered around the fire. When we went to leave Dave and I marveled at the sea of stars above us. The winter stars in Trout Lake are a sight to behold.

Sunday morning we woke up and lounged about Wampler’s house. I made myself some breakfast and Wampler ate more rocks. We read our books and Wampler and I did some work on the website. I dunno when it’s gonna be ready. You’ll know when I do. Later in the afternoon Wampler and I went for a walk to enjoy the sunny day. We saw several downed trees (some on houses) from the severe windstorm we had several weeks ago. Back at the house we spent the evening playing games. Jason came over and the four of us played Monopoly (the Simpson’s edition borrowed from the neighbors) then we played some liar’s dice before going to bed.

Monday morning I read my book and had some breakfast before packing up and heading back to Portland. I stopped along the Columbia River on my way to get some pictures of the strange ice forming along the river’s edge. It was insanely windy and quite cold so I didn’t last long before running back to my warm car. I’ve spent the last several days reading lots of books and watching lots of movies. The snow days have been quite relaxing.

So that was my weekend. Please let me know how you are and what you’ve been up to.
Hope all is well!

xoxox,
carolyn