Hood River

We went to Hood River over the winter break to visit friends of mine from my college years. I love Hood River. It's a small town with an abundance of outdoor activities for all seasons. Most people seem to have moved there for the sports: kite surfing, wind surfing, skiing, mountain biking, & road biking.

The kids and I skied at Mt Hood Meadows. The weather was amazing -- clear blue skies so we could see the very top. The kids, however, were not into it. We got there at 10, then they were hungry, then they didn't want to ski, then I got frustrated. Finally once they started to ski they were ok but then they wanted lunch. After lunch, Sonia refused to ski so I left her at the bottom of the lift to play in the snow. Jack and I skied. I enjoyed what I could.

I had not seen my HR friends for many years. They look the same! However, their small children were replaced by much larger people. I had not seen their oldest child since he was 4 or so. Now he is 15 and almost as tall as his dad. He is very independent -- he makes his own food, goes out for solo bike rides, has a girlfriend. Many worlds away from 4. In fact, a few worlds away from where I am with my kids.

My friends got a sitter and we went to a bar to hear more friends sing and play music. Every business establishment seems like a story from Portlandia. We visited a bar opened by three athletic semi-retired men in their 50's. The bar serves cider that these guys make and is only open 3 days a week. We ate dinner at a pizza place on the Columbia River owned by a family that used crowdfunding to open their restaurant. They offer a family night every month where you bring your kid and they provide the sitter while you eat on the other side of the restaurant.

I took one picture in Hood River. This was the cheesecake one of my friends made. It was topped with lemon curd and was unbelievably delicious.

I ate the part that fell off.

On the way to HR, we stopped at Powell's bookstore. We spent several hours there and I had to have Jack paged because he completely disappeared into the books. On our way home, we visited OMSI, which is now Jack's favorite museum. I had to have him paged there as well. He took the submarine tour and wanted to move in. There is a crazy exhibit with real embryos and fetuses up to 20 weeks or so as part of a human reproduction exhibit. Definitely a Portland thing.. can't imagine that in Trump country.