Day Two: Escape to Mount Hood

Beginning the ascent to Mount Hood























From Mount Hood , you can see Mount Jefferson across the valley.

"Heeere's Johnny!" Timberline Lodge
was a site for the the filming of The Shining. It was built in the 30's by the WPA...a New Deal success story!

























Hiking the Barlow Road, part of the original Oregon Trail.

Picnic in Washington Park (downtown Portland)

Making our picnic dinner

Washington Park in the City of Roses

Pasta salad, wine and cheese (sorry we spilled wine on your brand new sleeping bag liner, Amy! But thanks to Google, dish soap and hydrogen peroxide, it wasn't too disastrous!)

Our Trip in Retrospect

DAY ONE
Traveling on Wednesday, June 25.

Are they really going to let us check 10 bags...?



And we're here!!!
Amy's downtown apartment!!

Inside Amy's apartment

Alex and Tina...Twins separated at Birth?

Westward, Ho!

Alright, People!!! We're back! We've had some computer illnesses around here, but times are lookin' up! Thanks to Ken and Alan, our family computer doctors, we are just moments from being up and running, better than ever.

The Walshes leave tomorrow for Oregon for a 15-day outdoor adventure! I'd like to thank thank Al Gore for inventing the internet because we planned a lot of this trip using the internet...I really think this internet thing could be the wave of the future!

I guess we're about the last to hop on the Oregon bandwagon (covered bandwagon?...) Well, anyway, we've heard so much about it from all of you who've been there, we decided to check it out for ourselves. If you're interested, you can check in to see the latest. And by the way, Big thank-you's (yes, I know it's plural, but I used the apostrophe to avoid ambiguity...) to all of you who have been so excited with us as we planned this trip. Well, it's 11:46 p.m. And I have to get up in 3 hours so we can all be ready for Tina to take us to the airport at 3:30 a.m....she owed me one...
Ttyl
D

In the Great Outdoors

Christine Smith, well-known on many Hamiltopia blogs









These photos are from a delightful and refreshing January Sunday afternoon spent in Patapsco State Park with Shannon and Boog, Greg and Laura, and Rachel Heinz and her boys. The air was very cold, but being in the outdoors is good for so many reasons. What God has made is so much more beautiful than anything man has made. Being in His creation helps clean out the mind, allows time for contemplation, restores perspective.

A Special Visitor From Portland

Aunt amy came to visit in mid-January!! We were so happy to see her and be with her. Here are a few shots of a day of snowtubing--her and Jenny's Christmas gift to all the nieces and nephews.

Two days after the tubing event, we all trekked up to the Ranch for a wonderful afternoon of hiking, sliding down the skate ramps, airsoft wars, and Christmas dinner and presents with Amy! (Mom, Dad, Betty, and Grandmom were all there, but for some reason, I don't have any pictures of them this time!)

It pays to run, people! This is just some of the spare change I've found in in the first two weeks of the new year. Who knew running through Hamilton could be so lucrative? Hey, it's nothing to sneeze at--as Tim's boss says, "Every little bit helps."

There's always a party when Amy comes to town! Come to think of it, there seems to always be a party in Hamiltopia!

Looks like Maddie is cooking up a scheme...