As we got closer to Mt. Hood, it took up more of the viewfinder in the camera. To think about those folks who wake up on their farms each day and can see the mountain from their bedroom window! Do they know how lucky they are? There are four glaciers on the mountain, so it always has snow at the top. We went up to the Timberline Lodge at Marcus and Danni's suggestion.
On the way up the mountain, I put in a CD called Sing America! It has a bunch of patriotic and typical American songs on it. We bopped up the winding road to Paul Simon's Graceland and John Denver's Country Roads, among others. But the kicker was pulling up at the Timberline Lodge, as far as you can drive a car up Mt. Hood, and looking over the awesome panorama below as America the Beautiful played on the CD player. Mom and I sang all the way up the mountain and continued to sing as we stood admiring the vista around us. It was so beautiful I started to cry as I sang. I think Mom did, too. I left the car on and the next song was The Star Spangled Banner. We stood outside and sang that too, unashamedly patriotic, the two of us. My heart still skips a beat at Old Glory flying to the strains of a good Sousa march during a parade. We stayed up there quite a long time just marveling at the sight. Someone who stood right where we stood must have written “Purple mountain majesties above the fruited plain”. Breathtaking, just plain breathtaking. |
