Mt. Hood

I still take it for granted that I grew up so close to Mt. Hood, literally in the foothills. When Mt. Hood is your backyard it's hard not to take it's amazing-ness for granted. On Sunday, the weather was still looking nice so I headed out to Mt Hood/Hood River for the day. I was hoping to hike to some falls, but ended up hiking some other trails with some friends from Hood River. They were on skis and unfortunately, I wasn't equipped to keep up with them so I took some pictures of them and we went our separate ways. It was such a beautiful hike though. I'm always amazed at the stillness and beauty in nature...it was truly refreshing to get outside and enjoy the activity and the stillness.

Columbia River Gorge

It's so amazing to be living in the Pacific Northwest again. To be 30 minutes from amazing beauty and wildness...Southern California seems like years ago after living here for a a half a year.
Today I was feeling stir crazy while Amanda was at work. The weather was beautiful (i.e. no rain and clear skies), so I decided to take a drive into the gorge. After driving around and looking for some fun places to hike around, I found a little trail next to the Columbia. It was super quiet (no wind), ice still floating in the water, and the sunset was beautiful. These pictures were actually taken after sunset with longer shutter speeds. They came out pretty good in my opinion...