Crystal Mountain Gondola

This weekend, instead of doing an 11-mile overnight hike in the Cascades like I said I was going to, we stayed home.  Turns out, the kid was sick and I was probably too sick to go spend the night in 55 degree weather.  So, we just layed low on Saturday but I was determined to cross something off my 30 before 30 list.  ANYTHING.  I went to the craft store but I couldn't find a pattern I like and none of the fabric was on sale.

On Sunday, I remembered I had a free pass to ride the gondolas at Crystal Mountain.  Dan was on his way home from tour and I needed to get out of the house to keep myself from going crazy in the anticipation of his arrival.  So, I packed up BB, some snacks, and our plaid shirts and puffy vests and we drove up to Crystal Mountain.

The drive was gorgeous and the ride was really fun.  I was disappointed at the top to find that the recent forest fires had severely smogged up the view.  We have snowboarded up there so it was interesting to see the slopes not covered in white snow.  The ground is thick, chunky gravel and the kid could not crawl around like he wanted to (no, he's still not walking) so I put him in his Moby wrap.  We ate some snacks and took a little walk.  After spending my life at sea level I forgot how much of a wuss I am in altitude.  My heart was pounding after climbing hills while carrying this 20 pound kiddo!

We stopped on the way home and I went on a shopping spree. It was like I hadn't shopped in ages... oh wait, I havent.  I crossed one thing off list:  #19, Buy a ridiculously expensive pair of shoes.  I got boots that reminded me of the boots I got in London years ago that I had to throw away last winter because they'd run their course.  These are great replacement and will hopefully last longer.

The best part of the weekend:  Dan is home!