There's Snow Business Like...

Well we set out early this morning, for our 123 mile drive to Bend. While still a bit brisk, the skies were clear, and for the most part so were the roads. Somewhat of a different road trip for me though. First off gas was about a dollar less a gallon. Then there was the opportunity to drive Kris' Nissan Maxima, quite a sporty little ride, with great road handling qualities. But the most striking thing to me was almost 90 miles of solid TREES, as far as you could see to either side of the road.





As we neared Bend (the road from Salem to Bend cuts through the Cascade Mountains), the elevation rose to a little over 3,000 feet and oh my gosh - there was SNOW. Snow on the hills, snow on the mountains, snow in the trees, snow on the side of the road! At one point there was even snow on me!! We stopped to take this photo, so you wouldn't think I was making this up.





It did get colder as we got near Bend (38 degrees) but the weather held, it never snowed more and we barely had any rain on the way back. We had lunch at Anthony's, a seafood restaurant (and a good one I might add) in the Old Mill District, near where the Lahaina Gallery is located.





After lunch we stopped by the Gallery, to find Kevin Gagnon, the Director holding down the fort. I have to say, the Gallery is huge and Kevin has it hung awesomely. It's a beautiful show case for the Company, and far exceeded my expectations or what I'd envisioned from photos I'd seen. I'm really glad we made the trip. I mean, if anything after almost 20 years with the Company, I was admittedly pretty jaded as far as the artwork was concerned. However, the collection and the display approach definitely got my attention, and I say, "Atta Boy" Kevin & Jim Killett.





And on that note, we climbed back in the car, set the Garmin for HOME, and off we went. The reverse trip was even more rewarding as we were treated a half dozen or so very striking, snow capped Mountains, including Mt. Washington, Three Sisters, and Mt. Bachelor to name the more prominent ones. Very spectacular, but enough of the cold white stuff to last me a few years at least.

"The problems that exist in the world today, cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them." - Albert Einstein