Backpacking to High Lake

That lake – a beautiful little 2.5 acre lake – was the busiest mountain lake I have ever seen.

Elk Mountain Summit

I love being surprised, and that goes for just about anything. That includes randomly choosing a trail to hike, and having it turn out to be packed with views, challenges, variety, and shared with a great hiking partner. Arno asked if I had any suggestions on where to go for our Sunday hike. I pulled […]

Oregon Tulips

I was desperate for something to help me re-direct my sour mood yesterday morning.

Campers vs. obnoxious huge bass system

I was so devastatingly tired I was ready to ford the Sandy River and go strangle JoeBob, BettySue, AND Lady GaGa. Rah rah ah ah ah!

In the shadow of a volcano

Despite having lived around mountains all my life, or perhaps because of that, I remain in awe of the awesome sweep of snowy mountain slopes that rise from valleys in the way that volcanoes do. I am simply not able to drive along our highways and not feel an emotional surge of admiration for volcanoes […]

Christmas 2011 – Part II

A deep river of lava poured through the valley following a volcanic eruption around 100,000 years ago.

Christmas 2011 – Part I

I’ll suggest you simply add the words, “…and it was damn cold” to the end of each sentence from here on out.

Halloween recap

Holy cow. Seriously? 9:25 and I hear a little girl’s voice outside…there goes the bell.

Girls in the Gorge

When the seasonal affective disorder symptoms were about to make us want to gouge out our eyes with forks, Mother Nature blessed us with ONE gorgeous day before the rain and cool temps rolled back in.

Traveled for a week and found stunning beauty at home

I am a very lucky girl to be able to come home to this!