Day-15: Timberline Lodge at Mount Hood - The Rondezvous

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Last night's fire is long out. Awoke again around 7 AM but was in no hurry to go anywhere. We ordered up some more fire wood and started the morning blaze.






We headed down to the lobby for coffee and/or hot chocolate. That mission turned into a bacon and biscuit sampling fest for a lite breakfast. The offering was for samlipng three local types of bacon; smoked, sugar cured and boar bacon, all served with honey. Good thing we ordered the small size. The biscuits were served with a variety of locally made jams and jellies. All this paled when compared to the "over-the-top" hot chocolate, freshly made, creamed, with bits of Heath Bar decorating the tops with drizzles of chocolate syrup. In the end the candy bits blend and melt in to the chocolate spritzing the drink with a slightly altered flavor, rate this a Five Star, Ten, or whatever you have at the top of the rating list.

Diane and Greg arrived just after noon and after check-in and a brief familiarization with the lodge we brought together our travel food for an in-room lunch of cheese, fruit, crackers & chips and for Greg and I, a glass or two of a wine from the Youngberg Winery visited last week.

After a short respite we headed to the hill for a climb to the summit of Mount Hood; after all it's only about 5,000 feet elevation and 3.6 miles from our ground location at the lodge. Actually, the mountain is climbable by the less experienced, we deemed ourselves to be less experienced than the nominally described less experienced climber. So maybe we didn't reach the top but we did trek a ways up the mountain for a view and photo or two before retiring to the lodge atrium for a warm drink.











Around 5 we're returned to our rooms for another respite and another fire. Must keep the feet warm. By 7 we were back at the atrium fire place chatting with much younger folks, in from the Washington D.C. area, both with jobs being impacted by the ongoing federal economic debates.




Again tonight we had dinner at the Cascades Restaurant in the lodge. Tonight's specialty was beef short ribs, but to be sure, there was nothing short about the meal. Again, great food served in large quantities; we all departed well fed.





We did a little bit of planning for tomorrow and beyond but will hold off until tomorrow to lock up the day's plan.

By 9 we were all in our rooms. We again started a fire and are slowly being lulled into sleep by the full bellies and warm rooms temps. Won't be a late night, that's for sure.