I wasn’t at home last Monday. I intended to post when I returned, adding a few days of photos to my usual weekly update so all of my trip would be in one entry. Obviously, that didn’t happen. So there I was last night, trying to figure out if I wanted to do that planned entry, just later than planned, or have the entry cover all the days since the last one. During that time of pondering, I accidentally deleted the most recent six days of photos from my camera before uploading them to my laptop. Not the first time I’ve done that, but the first time in a few years. The recovery software I’d used the last time I did this didn’t work this time, so I found a different one and got all but one of the photos back. By that time, it was late at night, and I didn’t have the energy to decide or the time to write a draft entry even if I had had the energy. Today I’ve decided to just go through the end of my recent trip with this entry, and I’ll catch up the remaining days between then and now at a later date (but I hope not too late).

March 7: Mr. Karen and one of our guests riding up the beginner chair, which we hadn’t yet taken them on (the other guest was back at the condo working on this particular afternoon).

 
March 8: I took the day off from skiing and went down to town in the afternoon to do my nails and putz around in solitude for a couple hours. I snapped this photo of the tulips our guests brought late that night, knowing we were leaving the next day and wanting to document them before then.

 
March 9: Caravanned down to Bend, Oregon with our houseguests. We hit the outskirts of town in time to see the sun set behind Mount Bachelor.

 
March 10: Skied at Mt. Bachelor. The only other time I’d been here, back in 2002 or so, it was so cloudy and stormy that we never saw the top of the mountain the whole week were were there. This day, I wore the sun lens in my goggles all day and not only saw the top of the mountain but rode the lift up and skied down from the peak (well, nearly; I wasn’t going to hike up another hundred feet or so and dare the steeps).

 
March 11: Another sunny ski day at Mt. Bachelor. My day was a bit shorter than I’d like due to taking a hard fall, which meant a long break just after to get myself re-combobulated and stopping early because my body hurt (fortunately my bindings did their job and released so my knees were fine, just got some muscle strain in my neck and shoulders and back and arms from flailing and twisting as I went down).

 
March 12: My muscles were sore from my fall the day before so I planned to take it easy, maybe just strolling around the neighborhood the house we’re renting is in, but somehow went on a 5+ mile hike instead. Granted most of it was on a mostly flat paved trail, but still, not exactly a rest day. It was nice to be out and see things I hadn’t seen before (and pet some dogs in the bargain, as the trail was lively with people and their pets). The reward at the turnaround point we chose was a view of Benham Falls on the Deschutes River.

 

March 13: Today I did take a rest day and just hung out at the rental house with one of the other folks who also decided to stay in. Mr. Karen went up to the mountain and skied in what sounded like challenging conditions with a lot of wind.

 

March 14: By this point, there were only three of us left at the house, and we all headed back to the slopes. The weather was more grey than it had been for my other ski days this trip, and I still felt a bit off my game. I did accomplish the two goals I set for myself: ski the run where I fell the other day and ski the run we were heading to when I fell. I mean, I had to do “Huckleberry Picker”. That’s me. We had to get a supplementary freezer I pick so many of them.

 

March 15: The conditions at Mt. Bachelor (which one of the nav systems we used called M T Bachelor, like a DJ or rapper almost) didn’t seem enticing enough to make us want to suit up and do the 40 minute drive there, so we stayed close to the house again. Mr. K and I went for a drive, hoping to see some vistas, but if there were some on the route we chose, they were after the point the road was closed for winter. Part of the day was spent packing, too, as we would head for home the next morning. The three of us left celebrated a successful trip with dinner out at a local brewery. The signs painted on the pavement which could be taken to read YOU THANK BIKE YOUR WALK PLEASE seemed even funnier after dinner and drinks (even though we had only one each).

 

March 16: We had to be out of the rental house by 10 a.m., which felt early to me, but on the plus side that meant more of our drive home was in daylight hours, and there are some interesting landscapes along the way.

 

*****
On this date in 2013 through 2021: No entries
2012: Green Striped Cap
2009 through 2011: No entries
2008: Billy the Bookcase Says Hello
2003 through 2007: No entries