Mt. Bachelor Snowboarding Trip

During Valentine's weekend, we took a short roadtrip (~3.5 hrs drive) to Bend, Oregon to spend 3 days snowboarding on Mt Bachelor. We went with Paul and Tori Endres as well as the Kerns. The mountain proved to be much bigger and better than Mt Hood, so we will definitely be making this trip many more times in the future! Bend is also a cool little town that warrants more discovery than our brief foray of the local cuisine and brew.

The "Three Sisters" mountains, as viewed from atop Mt. Bachelor. Mt. Bachelor earned its moniker for being the lone mountain apart from the Three Sisters. That's me downhill, although my white pants and brown jacket act as camouflage in this pic (I just happened to be standing perfectly at the snow/tree horizon).

Matt and Kristina Kern bundled to battle the high winds

Yours truly and my Valentine...I couldn't think of a better way to spend Valentine's Day!!

Before hitting the slopes, we had Valentine's breakfast at the Sunriver Lodge....this is the view from our window seat.

This is the view of Mt. Bachelor from our room at Sunriver Resort

The first hour of the drive back home was a pleasant ride through the Deschutes National Forest
(that is the side slope of Mt. Jefferson on the horizon)

Halfway home, we drove by Detroit Lake; it is worth stopping several times on the side of the road just to soak in the views! I saw some campsites nearby, so we'll have to return to see what it looks like in the summer.

Detroit Dam

We walked about halfway out across the dam, which allowed me the perfect vantage to snap this photo:

Just a few hundred yards past Detroit Dam lies a mountain with lots of tiny waterfalls streaming down every side...only a few are visible at a time, but as you drive around to different angles, more and more appear. The small clearing in the trees only allowed me to capture a few of the waterfalls:

We finished the trip by stopping by the Outlet Malls (Emily's request, of course) on the way home. When I started to protest, she kindly reminded me that she withstood subfreezing temperatures and 94 mph winds to go snowboarding with me. Okay, fair point. I guess I sometimes take for granted how awesome of a wife she is and how she puts up with my crazy ideals of what constitutes the ultimate way to spend Valentine's Day. So we went to the Outlet Mall for Em....and I still owe her a nice formal dinner. But it may have to take a raincheck, Mt Hood is getting tons of fresh powder this weekend! :)