Blast From the Past

My kids got me the best Christmas gift ever.  They pooled their money and purchased a photo scanner.  I was so psyched!  Now I can scan all my old photographs and use them for things such as....blog posts!

The image below was my first scan. There's a great story behind this photo. It was taken during my honeymoon, way back in 1985. Roger and I were living in South Dakota at the time and didn't have a lot of money for an exotic trip. We chose to visit Estes Park, Colorado as it was a day's drive from our home.

Like my "80's hair"?

We had a great time.  Roger and I were treated to majestic views of snow-capped mountains.  We climbed a path above the highway to an especially scenic panorama.  Wanting to show our friends how high in elevation we'd ascended, Roger snapped this photo of me beside an innocuous sign.  The mention of Mt. Hood didn't even register on my geography-meter.  At the time, the only thing I knew about Oregon was what I'd read from Beverly Cleary books back in grade school. 

Fast forward three years later and where were we living?  Yup - Portland, Oregon, in the shadow of Mt. Hood.  After we'd lived in Oregon a year, I rediscovered this photo.  Roger and I had a good laugh.  I showed the pic to a bunch of my co-workers, and had a photocopy made to hang at my office.  To this day, it holds a prominent place on my cubie wall.  And it still elicits lots of comments from proud Oregonians wanting to know why Colorado picked on their iconic mountain.

The best part of all, Mt. Hood ended up being my favorite mountain.  Over the years living in Oregon, I've come to know it well, skiing its snowy goodness, and hiking its spectacular trails.  I have photos well into the hundreds of this beautiful peak.  Who knew an innocent photograph would foretell a future favorite place?