Mt. Hood and Hood River Valley (I love this place)

Yesterday was a fun day. It was Bethany and I's 2nd year anniversary. It's not like the big 1, 5, 20 or 50 year landmarks, so we didn't do anything extravagant, but we did have a fun day. We started off with a drive to Portland for a couple of client meetings, which, believe it or not, are really fun! We get to meet cool people and show them pretty photos. :) We love our job!

Then we cruised around in Portland for a little bit, went to the Patagonia store, didn't buy anything though because it's realllly expensive there, and we recently spent like $1,200 at REI on things for our upcoming trip. So we just browsed. :)

On the way home scored some gas for $2.91 (felt good to be in the 2's) at the good ol' Troutdale Flying J truck stop. There is always great things to see at the Flying J. Love it.

Got back to Hood River and the weather was just incredible. Not much wind (very unusual), warm temperatures, clear air, and cool clouds all came together, and it makes Hood River this magical place when this happens. It's impossible to describe really, you have to experience it yourself... Come visit us!

I of course had my camera in the car, so we cruised up to Odell and got some incredible views of Mt Hood!

The photo above is one that I took. It kinda feels like a postcard photo, but when I look at that photo, it just makes me feel good. Brings back a lot of great memories. My first job at age 14 was at Mt Hood Meadows Ski Resort working in a little snack shop called the "Meadow Mart". Those were good times. I always worked with good friends, and we all got free tickets for all the snowboarding we wanted, so we'd take the bus up in the morning and work all day then ride all night, or vice versa. My boss called me "Nacho Boy" because I made them so good. The key was to layer the chips and cheese, so you had cheese on all the chips and not just the top ones. Then one day my boss said I gave the customers too many "pumps" of cheese and they were losing money on them, haha. So he stopped calling me Nacho Boy. I worked that job 4 years before I moved onto another great job as a bellman at the Columbia Gorge Hotel.
So that is just one reason why I love looking at photos of Mt Hood.

Another thing that I like about the photo is all the apple and pear trees in the foreground. I used to ride my bike to school and cut though a couple orchards instead of going on the road. When they were in season, I would grab a couple apples or pears off the trees for my lunch. They were sooo good, you can't find better apples or pears anywhere!

Then after exploring all that Odell has to offer we hit up the best spot for Mexican food in Hood River, the Taqueria! Mmm tacos! Here is a snapshot.

I could go on and on... but I'll spare you. But congrats on getting this far! Not sure why I'm all the sudden getting personal on my blog... I think I've been inspired by my finally blogging buddy Peter.

I guess thats all I have for now. A lot of exciting stuff coming up soon, so stay tuned!