Saving the Best for Last

Mindy found her way out of bed and down the stairs even before me. I can’t recall the reason, whether of her own volition or perhaps a call to her cell. Either way, I laid in bed just a short while longer before joining her in the kitchen. Quietly, she went about making some coffee and placing the second strada in the oven all the while I began my exercise regiment. Despite more heavy snow in the forecast, the early morning hours were sunny, so the nearby mountain tops were dappled in brilliant sunlight.

Before even 7:30am I was out the door for a run. I was determined to be on the slopes as close to their opening as possible. The village was noticeably barren as compared to Saturday & Sunday. Along my run I kept glancing northward hoping to catch a glimpse of the mountain top which had remained shrouded in cloud cover for our entire trip thus far. No such luck.

I completed my run around 8:00am. Upon my return to the condo almost everyone was up & eating. Everyone was eager to get to the mountain. We also needed to check out of our room before 11am or we risked a $250 penalty. Several of us chose to forego a shower in favor of more slope time. We left for the day lodge just after 9am. The mountain was noticeably less populated & the parking lot almost empty, but that boded well for us. But, unfortunately, that translated into less staffing, too. It took about an hour or so to go through the ski rental/lift ticket process. I was chomping at the bit to get going. And by the time everyone was outfitted in their gear (Tommy sat out) the sun went back behind the clouds and more snow began to fall. In fact, the day on slopes started out foggier and snowier than the other two days. Still, to our surprise, the magic mile ski run was open.

Mindy, Mary Ann, & Tom S chose to take another blue run over to Stormin’ Norman while Glenn, Bob, and I darted over to take on the Magic Mile even as it appeared completely shrouded in clouds and snow. We figured this might be our only chance to take the run. As we approached the top of the lift it was even more soupy than at the bottom. We could barely see the chair in front of us.

As we exited the lift we poked our way to the right of the lift. Glenn advised that we should stick together and try to follow the lift down keeping the reflective stakes just to our immediate left. That was our plan. As we set out our pace was extremely tentative and slow. The snow was unpacked and completely covered our skis. It was scary. After about a hundred yards a young woman going up the lift advised us to move to the opposite side of the reflective stakes where we’d find a more groomed trail. Thankfully, she was right. While our view was still limited, at least we could see those orange stakes and the trail was groomed smoothly. We kept the stakes in sight all the way down the mountain, still advancing at a snails pace. I enjoyed it. Glenn reported getting a little dizzy not being able to see ground from sky, and Bob was snow blind for not having tinted goggles. I was the only one game for doing it again.

We continued down to Stormin’ Norman in hopes of catching up with the others, which we did rather readily. We skied down that run several times as a large group. Then the entire group of us skied Magic Mile, the run that ate Mindy’s face last February. Mindy managed to master that trail, too. We skied until 1230pm when we agreed to meet at the lodge for lunch. Today, however, we packed sandwiches, which we made just before leaving the condo. A couple of us had a pint of brew, but that was it.

By now it was 1:30pm. Mindy wasn’t up to skiing any more. She said she didn’t want to risk hurting herself. Tommy & Mindy headed to the hot tub & pool. Tom S, Bob, Mary Ann, Glenn, and I headed back to the Magic Mile after a fast run down Molly’s Express – a black diamond run. The Mile was awesome going in and out of cloud cover, however, never revealing her peak.

We did the run about three more times taking a different trail each time. As the afternoon began to wind down we took Otto Lang – the eastern most run - which turned out to be my favorite. Just after 3pm we chose to take it one more time. After taking our time heading down the first section of the mountain we turned around to see the peak finally revealing itself to all. And it was a site to behold, a fitting one at that. Our guests, Bob and Mary Ann finally got to see Mt Hood in all of her glory. It literally took our breath away. Everyone was stoked over seeing the peak and skiing the final run drenched in blue skies and sunshine.

We found Tommy and Mindy in day lodge by the rental returns. We turned in all of our gear, visited the gift shop, and then loaded into the CRVs destined for Portland. We descended the mountain with no regrets and a belly full of skiing and fun.

We arrived back at Glenn’s after a brief stop at the good doctor's sometime between 6 & 7pm. After organizing our gear for the trip home tomorrow we decided a trip back into NW Portland for dinner drinks was in order. We chose to patronize the Blue Moon – a favorite of ours. I drove.

At the Blue Moon I hoped to find fireside seating. More specifically, I hoped to sit at the table with a fire pit at its center. Unfortunately, that table was full. We settled for a large table off in a corner. Just like most of our dinners, we ordered pitchers, appetizers, and entrees’. We hung out in the Blue Moon until about 10pm when we decided to head back to Glenn’s place. Mindy drove having had only one small beer earlier in the evening.

Mindy went to bed while the rest of us stayed up for another beer. I went to bed sometime before 11pm.