The Snowy Day

So, it has been a very unusual spring around the Pacific Northwest. I've had snow falling at my house several times over the past week (none sticking), despite the fact that 1) it almost never snows in Portland and 2) it's almost April, for crying out loud!

However, this has been GREAT for mountain snow. Yesterday, Mike and I went for a very snowy spring adventure on Mt. Hood. We snowshoed up the Glade Trail, which goes from the town of Government Camp up to Timberline Ski Area. (On a side note, we are getting married at Timberline Lodge, a mere stone's throw from the ski area.) The trail itself is about 5.5 miles round-trip, with an approxmiate 1500-foot elevation gain. It was an incredible day! Here are some pictures:


There was an obvious trail that people had used, but we didn't always stay on it.


The snow fell on us most of the day.


It was fun to go off the trail and wade through the deep, deep snow. They have over 200 inches of snow up at Timberline. We sunk down 2 or 3 feet, despite our snowshoes. It was quite a workout!


Mike is a dork. But I love him! :)

When we came home from snowshoeing, we found this in our front yard:


What a nice welcome home!

By Request...

So, I admit that I have not been good at keeping up with this thing. In fact, I haven't even really thought about it for a long time. However, just for kicks, I decided to log on today...and found a comment waiting for me, with a suggestion that I guess makes sense.

Yes, I am now 30 years old. Gulp. However, turning 30 was really quite painless, for several reasons. I will list the most interesting below:

1) I was in Paris. I celebrated my birthday at Le Train Bleu Restaurant.



2) I got engaged a mere 3 days earlier.

Really, turning 30 is SO not a big deal when you're floating around Paris on a cloud. I think I didn't really even notice that I had entered a new decade of my life...I was a bit preoccupied by certain preceding events. Like, being on top of the Eiffel Tower on New Year's Eve, looking down at all the glittering lights of Paris below and turning to my partner, only to see him down on one knee, with a ring in a box, asking me (in very broken and butchered French) if I would marry him. Yep, that was enough to make me conveniently forget that I was turning 30 -- or, at least, to make it seem like no big deal. I was so surprised in that moment that I think my first words were "What?!!" and then "Oh, my God -- of course!"



So that, in a nutshell, was my trip to Paris. Yippee!

Now, of course, my mind has been filled with wedding-related crap. I have honestly never really thought about getting married and having a wedding, so I had no idea what I needed to think about or plan for or arrange. However, I think Mike and I are getting it under control. The last big thing we need to find is someone to officiate the ceremony. Anybody know anybody fabulous who is licensed in the great state of Oregon to perform weddings?