Debbie & Keith Hake with Nathan & Jonathon (Phoenix, AZ) made Oregon their Spring break destination! It just happens their oldest son Brian is beginning his graduate studies at the University of Oregon in Eugene, where Jana's family resides. They ended up in Ashland for a few days. Fall weather was beautiful so we headed up Mt. Ashland thinking we would see lots of snow. About 10 inches had fallen two weeks earlier with the promise of ski season opening on Thanksgiving!!! As we headed up the nearly 8000 ft peak, Mt Shasta appeared off in the distance. . .about 60 miles south. . .but no snow!! We arrived at the lodge and still no snow! Thinking we would drive to the summit, Keith bounced us in that direction and the fork in the road headed up looked more risky when Debbie chickened out. Esther and I have made that drive numerous. . .slow but doable. Keith decided to turn around. . .drove a few blocks and parked at a great scenic overlook with wonderful views in all directions. Everyone got in the mood to rock climb. On our way back, we stopped at the Ski Lodge to look at the ski run. . .and behold, several small patches of snow, enough to make a foot tall snowman!!! plus many near misses of wet snow balls. It was a great memory!
