Saturday, July 7, 2012

Entertainment on the Cheap, Outdoors.

Matt and I very rarely spend money on "entertainment," i.e. movies, concerts, museums, etc. I guess we don't subscribe to the most common forms of entertainment. Instead we tend to hang out with friends at someone's house, go to a park, make music, read books, or watch movies from netflix. All of these things cost little or no money, and ultimately they are what we enjoy. The outdoors is our most common form of entertainment, although this spring we hardly stuck to our usual habit of getting out into the woods regularly, because our schedules got so hectic.

Yesterday, we finally got out onto our state's hiking trails again. We hiked Tom, Dick & Harry Mountain next door to Mt. Hood in the Salmon-Huckleberry Wilderness, on a perfectly gorgeous July day, 80 degrees and barely any clouds. For the cost of a few gallons of gas (and the $30 for a Northwest Forest Pass, which lasts a year!), we got a day of clean air, wilderness, six miles of exercise, and some spectacular views of The Mountain.

Matt on the outcropping where we stopped for lunch.

 Our provisions for the day were egg salad sandwiches, carrots and snap peas from the garden, some salami and crackers, cookies, and cantaloupe. 

Mt. Hood and Mirror Lake (even though we were technically in the wilderness, we can see civilization: see Highway 26 winding through the valley?)

Government Camp, Oregon

Mirror Lake wasn't still enough to mirror the mountain, but still beautiful.


We are so lucky to live where we live, to have this an hour and a half to the east, and the coast the same distance to the west. 

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