Finally ... camping at Priest Lake

Priest Lake has long been Jason's favorite camping spot.  Three years ago he tried to introduce me to it as the final destination on the camping phase of our honeymoon.  Sadly, we arrived to a completely sold-out campground and had major car problems to top things off.  We had to turn around and drive the three hours back to Spokane.  This year, our friends Phil & Krystal made reservations for us to go and I finally got to experience Priest Lake.  It was absolutely beautiful and it made my husband a very happy man to be there.

Krystal with their adorable 10 month old baby, Naomi.

Eating, Mt. Hood Style

For a long time now Jason has been telling me about the hiking he did when he lived in the Portland area.  His stories have also included descriptions of amazing the food to be had at the base of Mt. Hood.  Last week I got to experience both a close up look of this beautiful mountain and a taste of the areas delicious food.

Our first stop of the day was Joe's Donut Shop.  I have never tasted a better donut!  Seriously.  These babies looked and truly tasted homemade, they melted in my mouth way too quickly and didn't seem at all greasy or overly sweet. 

Afterwards, we did a couple of short hikes in the area to justify (in our minds) the eating we were doing ... Mt. Hood is one of the few places in the world where people can ski/snowboard year-round.  Pretty cool.

Our final stop was for lunch at Calamity Jane's, a very unique burger joint with more options than I have ever seen for burger toppings (including things like pie cherries & sour cream to peanut butter to pizza toppings).  Delicious food, all served up in a fun, wild west environment. 

I have now experienced Mt. Hood dining and must admit, I can't wait to go back!

Bliss

Yesterday we spent 16 hours in the car driving from North Dakota to Spokane.  We'd just done the reverse trip on Friday, making for two VERY long days.  For part of our trip back, Jason and I took the car with his 6 and 3 year old nieces in it. A bit scary.  They did sleep for about 45 blissful minutes (and yes, that is dried chocolate pudding all over Bailey's face).

Hiking and hiking and hiking!

Since hiking is something that is impossible to do in Shanghai, we've been trying to cram as much in during our time home as possible.  We were really blessed to be able to travel to Banff, Alberta with Jason's parents on our 3rd day back and we spent everyday exploring this amazing park!  What a perfect place for us to detox ourselves from the overwhelming city grime of Shanghai. 

Lake Louise, Plain of Six Glaciers.

We ran into a bit of a hail storm on our way up!

Bow Lake Glacier Falls...

Peyto Lake.

Johnston Canyon Falls.

Lake Minnewanka.

After Banff, we headed to Seattle to visit friends and got to hike Mount Si, with Jason's friend Jeremy.

Happy 4th of July (a bit late)

Jason's darling niece ...

Seeing Blue Sky Again

Our first day back in Spokane last Sunday was SO beautiful!  The sky was so blue ... it felt like we hadn't seen sky this blue since we left Palau last July.  Amazing!!!