Mt. Hood Weekend Away

After MUCH deliberation on what would make the perfect weekend away and end to our summer, we went with the Hansen's and the Neff's to Mt. Hood for the weekend. We rented a cabin and headed out Friday morningish. The cabin was super fun and had a hot tub that was the BEST hot tub EVER! We just kinda hung out Friday night, hot tubbed, played the guitar, played a super fun Monoply game (not real monopoly but like Speed Monopoly) and planned out our weekend. The point of the weekend was to be outside and ACTIVE! And boy were we active! We woke up Saturday and got ready to head out on our bikes. I look at Cory and say, "sooo... you know where we are going, right?" (noone wanted to spend the day getting lost, right?) Cory looks at me and says, "Uh huh!" with this look that I can only describe as "the Cory Look", for any of you that know Cory, you know what I mean. (the look that says, "Aw, lets just fly by the seat of our pants and see where we end up at!", ya you know the one!) Pretty much everyone saw that look, at least Amanda, Sun and I, and said, in unison, "get a map!" Billy and Cory pulled out a map and figured out exactly where we were going. (to Cory's credit, he did have a really good idea, we just felt alot better after it was actually mapped out and Billy was in on it!) So we head out. Note to self... when you are in the mountains and you want to go on a bike ride you are going to either be going UP or DOWN!!! NOT FLAT!

We head up Lolo Pass, just as we make the turn we see about 20 or more other cyclists sitting on the side of the road finishing their ride, so we figure its going to be a great ride. And it was! It was uphill for a long time, but very few cars and it was just BEAUTIFUL... it ran, I guess parallel to Mt. Hood, which is so pretty.



Taking a quick break during the ride...


Had a GREAT ride. We were feeling so good and just loving being outside. We did 25 miles and then got back to the cabin and thought we should practice "transitioning" since the triathalon is in 2 weeks. We put on our running shoes and just went out and did a quick mile to see how it felt on our legs. Then we had lunch and decided it was time to hike. We head out again to Ramona Falls. (A quick hike)


... Or not so quick... It was pretty long, a couple of hours at least. But another super fun time. I was just enjoying being out and about, with friends and no other responsibilities. We didn't have to do anything by any certain time or worry about anything else. We hiked up to the Falls, took a quick picture and headed back down, trying to beat the sun going down. We stopped at one point to get all of the sand out of our shoes, and just sat there and talked for 1/2 hour. I felt like I could've stayed there all night.

I've never really thought much about loving the outdoors, but there is something about being out there without all of the distractions that I really do love. By the end of our 4 hour hike, after our 1 mile jog, after our 25 mile bike ride, I can't tell you how good it felt to go soak in that hottub again! What a way to end the day.

Sunday, we got up and took our time getting ready. Jacob really wanted to bike up Mt. Hood, so he headed out early to knock it out before we had to head back. And knock it out he did. 15 miles to the base, and then UP for 6 more miles, and when I say UP, I mean UP! It was so steep! That climb is CRAZY!!!! He did awesome though and loved it. We met up with him, about 1 mile from the top. We drove up and met him as he finished and then we talked Billy into heading down with him. (which apparently isn't as glorifying to descend the mountain if you haven't suffered through the climbing of it, but they flew down that mountain together.) They headed off and we didn't catch up to them until about the last mile. They were going down faster then we were most of the descent. CRAZY GUYZ! (we try to not let that freak us out)


Oh, and the BEST part was... we stopped in Hood River to do some shopping, and the very FIRST store we go in I see this cute Yellow Purse. I fell in love with it! But, I am trying to be more careful about spending money and not buy EVERYTHING I want. I decide I'm gonna shop around and make sure thats what I want the MOST! We go to a few more stores and I keep thinking, "Nope! I want that purse!" After about an hour, and having lunch we decide to head back. I say I'm gonna go grab that purse. I go into the store and... ITS GONE! "What the ?" are you kidding me? Its only been an hour! I go ask the clerk, Jacob is with me, by the way, and she says "Oh yea, its gone. Some lady came in a bought it!" I was so disappointed. I go out of the store, totally complaining to Jacob. "That's what I get for trying to be frugal. That's why I just buy what I want when I want it! I should've just gotten it!" blah blah blah, you get the idea, right? I get to the truck and Amanda's like, "where's the purse?" I told her it was gone and I was so BUMMED! I got into the truck, still peeved, I might add, and there is the purse! Sitting in the back of the truck.

Seriously? My AWESOME WONDERFUL AND THOUGHTFUl HUSBAND, had RAN back to the store while we were in another store (Amanda kept trying to get me to try on a wet suit, and I REALLY didn't want to, but I did and didn't really think much of it.) Then while I'm trying it on, Jacob pokes his head in the dressing room and his forehead is DRIPPING with sweat and I thought, "that's odd that he is sweating so much. He must be REALLY Hot!" Unbeknownst to me, he had ran back to the store and bought the purse, hid it in the truck and told the sales lady to play it off when I came back to buy it, cuz I'd be back! I have to say, I love the purse SO much more since he bought it for me then if I'd bought it and then felt guilty for spending the money on another purse. I TOTALLY LOVE IT!!!! I'm pretty sure Billy thought I was crazy for how exited I got over it. Who knew?

We had so much fun! Thanks Neffs and Hansens. It was fun to drive up with Neff's and chat and spend more time together. I'm so grateful for fun friends that we are able to do stuff like this with. There aren't alot of couples who do all of the same things and like to be so active and are fun to hang out with. We are so glad we've become such good friends! You guys are the BEST!