Pandemic, Week 102 (Hoodies)

 

This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion of Ukraine as the United States and other NATO nations issued sanctions against Russian and increased aid to Ukraine. Germany announced it was halting certification of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, without which, Russian cannot pipe gas through the Baltic Sea to Germany. President Biden nominated Ketanji Brown Jackson for the Supreme Court, making her the first African American woman to be nominated. The PBS Kids show Arthur about an aardvark in third grade has ended after 25 years. 

The world reached 435.3 million COVID cases and 6.0 million deaths this week, of which the US accounted for 80.6 million cases and 973,000 deaths. 253 million Americans (76 percent) have received at least one vaccine dose and 216 million (65 percent) are fully vaccinated. Uganda introduced a bill which would fine persons $1100 or receive a jail term of six-months if they refuse the vaccine. Hong Kong will require all of its 7 million residents to undergo COVID testing in March. Queen Elizabeth II tested positive for COVID.

 

So while the world (or at least parts of it) were literally blowing up, schools were closed for February break and the painters had moved onto our living quarters, we decided that rather than watch paint dry for a week, we would head out to Portland to visit my college friend Cecily, her family, and her cabin on Mount Hood.

We flew out on Saturday and spent the night at what the kids dubbed, "the murder house," an airbnb in a lovely neighborhood, devoid of any real furniture. Things rapidly improved when we met up with Cecily and her crew for brunch the next day, took in a few local sights, and then headed to the mountain and the Tamarack Lodge. Cecily and her boys stayed the first night, which resulted in an epic round of Cards Against Humanity - Family Edition, followed by a day of sledding, snow shoeing, more Minecraft than advisable, and lunch before they headed back to the city for school and work, and we settled in for another 18 inches of snow. 

The next morning we headed to a chilly (read negative six degrees) Mount Hood Meadows for a full day (2/22/22) of powder (and more than a few developing moguls) on the slopes. Wednesday was more of the same – with some family skiing followed by the boys going off to tackle the upper parts of Heather Canyon while Nora and I went mogul hunting. We ended up calling the day a little short so that the kids could work on some homework, and the adults could rest their aching muscles. Thursday we opted to sleep in and only do a half day of skiing – which was a good choice given it was snowing on the mountain and visibility was less than ideal. The boys decided to ski all of Heather's Canyon, which was essentially skiing into the void in the upper parts (good thing they were already familiar with it) and felt pretty good about themselves afterwards. The visually challenged pair of Nora and I (the former couldn't wear their glasses with goggles and the latter chose not to), made our way slowly down a series of blues and blacks, stopping at each sign to verify where we were going, before eventually meeting back up with the boys for a final family run (that of course involved moguls). 

On Friday, the Williams joined us for a full day at Timberline which included multiple runs down the magical mile, a snowcat up to Palmer Glacier (and several snowball fights during the thirty minute wait), followed by a run down the longest vertical terrain in the United States (albeit with a break midway for lunch at the lodge – kids!). Afterwards we headed back to the cabin for dinner followed by a candlelit path to a massive bonfire and a few rounds of Sushi Go Party! (Nora won) before crashing for the night.

The next morning we packed up the cabin, stopped in Hood River for lunch, and then hung at the Williams's to do dinner, laundry, Breath of the Wild, and pat the bunny before heading to a far less murder house airbnb for the night and then flying home... to our substantially more, though not completely, painted home.

 

(To see all of our Mt. Hood pictures, click here.)