Nine.Ten.Eleven (Reception)

After such a beautiful ceremony, we headed to Jamie's Mom and Step-Dad's home for a reception in their gorgeous backyard.

The cake/cupcakes!

Bride looking at the yumminess~

Such a pretty Bride!

The set-up in the yard (part of it, anyway)!

The adorable table favors~~

Rachel and Jo~ Wedding Coordinators extra-ordinaire~

Me and Rachel~~

The food. There was lots of yummy food.

Centerpieces in black and white~

Bride checking in with the kids.

The girls (the Concordia 4 minus Rose who is in Alaska, but was there in spirit)!

I {love} this picture! (And, because of camera difficulties, I can't even tell you how long Jamie's lips were making contact with my cheek, HA! I love these girls)

The cake/cupcakes (from the air conditioned house) with the guests in the background. Outside. In the heat.

The cutting of the cake.

The feeding of the cake. Alex was so gentle--no cake smashing!

I thought Jamie would be the one to worry about, but she was perfectly lady-like.

I love her face in this one...she is saying that the cake is really good!

Champagne toast from the Bride~

Bouquet toss.It caught some air!

And, big sister, Alicia caught some flowers~

Garter time...

Sling shot version.

Time to dance~

Sisters Anna, Alicia and Jamie getting down.

First dance and little ones looking on.

Father/Daughter and Mother/Son Dance

Alicia, Keri, Mishka

Rachel and Zach snuck away and found comfortable chairs!

Pictures of the dress.

Dance Party time.

She shed these shoes early on. Cute pink, flats.

After a bit of a wardrobe change.

Sisters singing horribly off key to Jamie and Alex.

Time for flip cup. What a fascinating game and highly entertaining to watch.

Keri rocking Zach's hat.

More flip cup. It's all in the defense, ya know?!

Rachel flip cupping.

Embraces. Jamie's always been a good hugger.

Groom, Me, Bride.

Alicia, bridesmaid and Alex.

What a fabulous party celebrating a fun couple! To many, many happy years Jamie and Alex!

Mt Hood lost behind smoke at Lost Lake

Lost Lake is a hike that I've had tabbed as "to-do" in my favorite hiking book for a long time. I finally decided to suck up the drive (which is what had been holding me back, pathetically) and go. I got up (sort of) early and packed a lunch and headed out. I have written before of my love of Mt Hood and I was so looking forward to the amazing views I would see.

The drive through the gorge was beautiful.

The view of Mt Adams was wonderful.

I arrived at Lost Lake, paid my fee and got parked. I made my way over to the lake, anxiously awaiting my wonderful view, and this is what I saw....humph...

I decided, even with no view, I was going to still enjoy my time in a beautiful setting.

The above is what I saw, the below is what I had hoped to see...there'll be another time.

Me with the lake and smoke behind me.
From this view, you'd never know there was a fire and so much smoke.

The light making it to the ground looked orange at this point, filtered through the smoky sky. In some areas it was red.

This isn't the most flattering photo, but it gives you an idea of the coloring.

Pretty ominous looking~

There were some pretty massive root systems on fallen trees...Me with the root system to give size comparison...

Pictures don't even do it justice...really.

I was in awe of the color of the water due to the reflection.

Almost as dark as night under there.

My feet in the water that was so clear. Smoke ahead.

The sun behind the smoke.

As I went along on my hike the smoke encroached more and more. By the time I left it was starting to settle in the area. Shortly after I got home, after my detour and nice drive to get home, I saw on Facebook that the resort and campground had been evacuated and closed due to the smoke. I was thankful I got out when I did and didn't have the evacuating people (there were lots of them) and chaos to deal with.

I made my way away from Lost Lake and headed towards Parkdale. I had planned to return to PDX via Lolo Pass Rd, which would have taken me very near the fire. I feared that they may have closed the road, so I went for a much longer drive to Hwy 35 to Hwy 26 and stopped at Timberline Lodge.

This is the view from near Parkdale.

Coming up on Mt Hood from the south you can see all the smoke.

View from Timberline Lodge (parking lot).

Mt Hood!

Above you can see Mt Jefferson and the smoke from a wildfire burning there, also.

Mountain Lupine, so pretty...

Me with a grand mountain behind me.

The Pacific Crest Trail passes Mt Hood at Timberline. This is a trail known well by area hikers. It runs from Canada down through WA, OR, CA to Mexico.

Instead of walking the 550 miles to Canada, I walked 550 ft toward Mexico, so I could say that I've at least been on the PCT. This is the view towards Canada...

What a view...

All-in-all, I didn't get the view that I had planned on, but I still got a view, and have pictures and a story to tell about the Dollar Lake Fire. A good day, I'd say.