The Blur 8/20th or so...

Ok. It has happened in a more permanent way - the blurrrr. One day blends into another. We are buried in the green tunnel and occasionally surface for a vista view then back down we go. Oregon is soft and we have been made soft by it. A 4,000 ft. climb makes us indignant. It makes us tired and Oregon is supposed to be flat. That's what we were told.Whenever we have to climb more than 100ft. we complain loudly. We become outraged.I think we have become soft boiled eggs. Oregon is so green and bouncy soft. 

Mt. Hood, south sides

At this very moment we are at the Timberline Lodge an all season ski resort. The mountain is Mt. Hood. It has snow on it all year,some might say. We would not ski on it now but I guess Oregon skiers are hard core desparate. FC met two young guys on the trail this morning. One of them had skis on his back but he was heading into the forested area. He was going to ski on bushes. No joke. His companion was his camera man. FC immediately thought "Radical Reels" or "Banff Film Festival" entry. She also thought that this guy out of Salt Lake City might be famous and she was unaware. His skis were totally shredded so she believed him. He said he had his eye on some line of bushes going down the gully. Had she not been so focused on the imminent lunch buffet she might have followed him into the woods and become famous herself.

Timberline Lodge

       Before continuing on with buffet talk let us return to the town of Sistrs and tell you where to eat. The best Mexican food we have ever eaten is in the town of Sisters. It is called Los Agaves. Eat there. The roasting company in town, Sisters Roasting Company, has good coffee and tea.

Find FC in the roasting company. 

Princess FC

Pilgrim. The llama that lives at the BW hotel. 

The pastries except one (a homemade donut) are mediocre but the ambience is lovely. The Gallery is the best breakfast in town. Oatmeal and grits are sides with egg dishes. Nice fat juicy pork sausages & hot Fresh applesauce. Everyone makes their own ice-cream so there are plenty of ice-cream parlours to choose from. Sisters is a quilting Mecca. They put on a quilt festival every July and over 20,000 people attend. They display the quilts outside along the streets, over 1,200 are on display. Their biggest store in town is the quilting store. Of course Sisters has it's own micro-brewery and a cool bookstore. Sister's is definitely worth visiting. People move there from Eugene because the weather is better. There is a rodeo every year and a cowboy store in town. Visit Sisters if you are ever in Oregon.

Everything else. Timberline Lodge Buffet. 

Dessert Buffet 

      Back to Timberline Lodge and the buffet. Fabulous food : roast beef, pulled pork, pork tenderloin, excellent Mac and cheese, excellent potato salad, amazing waffles that you cooked yourself from a stellar waffle mix on the table. For $20 it was more than worth it but our stomachs have shrunken and it is pathetic to watch us try to eat a lot and fail. We all want so much to eat a ton of food but it's like we have all had stomach bi-pass surgery. On the trail we eat small amounts often. The buffet killed us. TC did not eat anything for the rest of the day and FC finally felt slightly hungry at 8:00pm. They hiked for ten miles after eating yet were not at all hungry. TC had pains in her right side and farted continually for 5 hours. It was the desserts we had on top of the rich meats. Desserts should be a meal in themselves and should Never be mixed  into an already full stomach; disaster will ensue, gastric distress in all it's glory. TC can tell you all about it. FC was dismayed when she passed a whole area of luscious ripe blueberries and had no appetite for them.

     After the buffet we took hot showers. We were not supposed to but we received instruction on how to get away with it and we did. We had to put our dirty clothes back on but we were clean underneath. The Timberline treated the PCT hikers well. We were not allocated to a "special" area to go through our boxes; we were allowed to mingle with the other guests and eat with them. Other resorts make sure to separate us from regular guests by sequestering us in underground dungeons and root cellars.We are dirty looking and we smell but we have the money to pay for things.  The Timberline was 5 star excellent and treated us like all their other guests. We were shown respect and treated with dignity. Thank you Timberline. 

     The lodge itself was built with old world craftsmanship. It's a National Historic Landmark and was built in 1937 as part of a WPA federal arts project  pairing craftsmen with apprentices. It features Old World craftsmanship blended with modern amenities.Built during the Great Depression with most of its structures made on- sight. The wood is joined by mortise and tenon with barely a nail insight. The beams are enormous as are the cuts of wood that make up the floor. Everything is shiny and smooth from being continually touched. The handrail of the staircase is made of some soft metal in the shape of a snake with acorns at either end. It's the kind of place you want to stroke and fondal because it is made so perfectly and with great skill. It's an art installation of huge proportion made with more than just wood & stone. FC would place it up there with cathedrals (in fact it's arched fireplace room is built like a cathedral) only she feels it's warmer and and more lively. The Timberline Lodge is worth visiting.