Whitewater Shenanigans 2k10!

On Saturday, we went for a one day whitewater rafting adventure.  It was my first time ever and I thought it was pretty awesome.  Some in our crew had some issues with the guide but, whatevs.

We went through River Drifters out of Maupin, OR to raft the Lower Deschutes River.  There is a virtual river map as well here which outlines the rapids we traversed on the trip (click on the waves for pic and info).

I believe it was Shearers Falls Rapids (Class VI) that our crew decided to take the safer left side passage.  After we were over we watched some rafts take the right side with lots of bodies in the water.  In fact, one of those folks apparently dislocated a shoulder and that was game over for some of that crew. Guess we made the right choice even though most of us wanted to go for it.

Not too many pics since our camera is not waterproof but, here are a couple.

Top of the mountain to ya (Mt. Hood around 6:30am at that)...

Part of our crew getting prepped for the day (Ellen, Susan, Evyl, Mendy)...

Post trip relaxation and pain killer (Jaegar Bomb)...

The road less traveled (missed our turn onto 26 which lengthened our trip back substantially)...

Koi Bog Wandering

Made it up to see Marilyn yesterday and it was a great day out.

Here is a shot of the Koi pond and the fish are starting to wake up from the winter. It's been so warm for January this year with ZERO days at or below freezing.

 

One more awesome shot of Mt. Hood...

 

We also walked the Hugonot and took some neighborhood shots.  He seems to be doing fine but, we were worried he was not drinking enough water.  The vet advised us to give him chicken broth to hydrate him and he went for that like flies on fecal matter.  We are optimistic at this point.

Mt. Hood Ski Adventure

We headed out to Mt. Hood for some skiing on Thursday. Awesome days and we chose to ski on the night shifts.

We stayed at the the only pet friendly Hotel in the area, the Mt. Hood Inn located in Government Camp. The hotel was fine and they were nice enough to upgrade us to the King bed with the jacuzzi tub (which came in handy after a night on the slopes).

Thursday night we hit Skibowl and it was pretty icy. We only got in a couple of runs before we headed back to our digs.

Dinner was awesome from Ice Axe Grill and I just can not say enough about their wings. Large, tender and kinda spicy with a sweet asian dipping sauce. Susan had a beet salad that ruled as well. For the main course, the individual pizza's were muy bien. This place also has a great micro brew selection to lubricate the throat for the the fine food.

We ate the leftovers for lunch on Friday!

Friday we slept in a bit and then hit Meadows for their 3pm to close ski experience. The skiing here was much better with a lot more options across run categories. I think we skied until about 8pm and it was great (even though the conditions were not optimal).



We awoke Saturday to... wait for it... about an inch or two of new snow! Too bad we were already spent and ready to head home.

View From Marilyn's Porch

Very cold day today but, at least it was sunny and clear.

We also stocked up on groceries to tide us over for the next few days as we expect around 6" to 10"s of snow through Thursday.

This will be a nice contrast to the weather we should be seeing in Belize come Saturday.

Mt. Hood & First Santa Sighting!

Santa looks a little suspicious but, we will give him the benefit of the doubt as he is taking the bus.