What did you do with your extra day this year?
Jack and I decided to celebrate Leap Day with a mid-week excursion up to Mt. Hood. We love the mountain, but never feel we have enough time to get away. How could we deny the extra day we were given this year? We made it a snow day.
We went on a long snowshoe hike through a Narnia-like forest. It was not intended to be quite so long, but we took a wrong turn and ended up on a trying slog through deep snow. Boy, was I glad when we found the blue diamond trail markers again.
After our hike, we drove the winding road to Timberline Lodge (it’s exterior made famous in The Shining). A WPA project, the lodge is full of hand-hewn furniture, loomed textiles, murals, ironwork, sculpture and other handcrafted amazement and has, for the most part, stayed rooted in another time. We had the place mostly to ourselves except for the cowboy-themed wedding (men in spurs and ten-gallon hats and women straight off the set of Deadwood) going on in the lobby. We played shuffleboard, drank whiskey and marveled at all the details all evening.
The next morning, we headed down the mountain—slightly sore, well-rested and grateful for the extra day.