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Friday, October 3, 2014

Friday Report: Mountain Country

We've spent the last few days in mountain country, which is pretty much my favorite type of topography.

You see, I grew up in Central Oregon (Sunriver and Bend), where the Cascade Mountains are pretty much your backyard.*  So it's nice to spend some time up here at elevation.

First we were in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, at 6700 feet.  Now we're in Park City, Utah, at 7000 feet.  Since I've been living at sea level for the last few years, the lack of oxygen has taken some getting used to.


The drive from Denver to Steamboat Springs was pretty awesome; lots of rushing mountain streams and fall colors.  If only Steamboat Springs wasn't so far out of the way.  The drive to Park City was a little less amazing, terrain-wise.  You go through a lot of desert area, but we drove past Dinosaur National Monument (didn't have time to stop, unfortunately) and later pulled off to check out a nice cliffy viewpoint.


Park City seems more beautiful and fun than Steamboat Springs, although that may be because it poured down rain the entire time we were in the Colorado Rockies.  Except the morning we left.  When it snowed.

Yep.  To get from point A to point B we drove through snow, snow mixed with rain, just plain rain, a freak hail blizzard, sunshine, and a lot more snow mixed with rain.

Drove through the small ice blizzard that left this hail behind like a BOSS!**

Good times.  I guess it's good practice for me, moving back near snow country.  We are driving to Sunriver for family Christmas, after all.

Hey!  Maybe there'll be a snowstorm on the way to Sunriver, and I'll have to put chains on my car for the first time!  Makes me think back to the time we waited out a spring blizzard at the old cafe on Santiam Pass.

Ah, the memories.


Anyway!  Tomorrow we're headed back out of the mountains and farther west.  Can't wait to get home.

And, you know.  Actually find a place to live.^  Like an apartment or something.  Because privacy.


*Basic rule of thumb: If there are trees on top, it's not a real mountain.
**Photo by Penny Lulich, because I was driving!
^Crashing on Mom and Dad's couch does not count.


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