The third phase of my spring break travel came to a close yesterday.  The final stop was Snoqualmie Pass, a ski resort area east of Seattle.  We drove up Sunday afternoon.  The drive was snowy and wet, which made for some interesting driving for me (it’s been a while since I was anything like that).  We made it to our lodging for the week and then some of us took a brief walk to get the lay of the land (which was covered in snow- see picture feed to the right).  While the drive up and the evening were great, it was waking up to falling snow that was the real treat.  About six inches had fallen overnight, and it kept falling until lunchtime Monday.

While my friends skied, I made my way back down to North Bend to check out Snoqualmie Falls (again, pictures to the right).  It was misty but beautiful.  And pretty massive.  I found out later that the Falls and the lodge adjacent to it were used for shots in the Twin Peaks tv show.  Then I made my way to Twin Falls Nature Area for a two-mile hike along the river in Olallie State Park.  It was cold and wet, but too far from the mountains for snow.  Then I made my way back into North Bend for a quick bite at Taco Time before heading back to the Pass.

At that point, the snow had finished falling and the temperature started to moderate enough that things started to melt.  So no falling snow on the second morning (though I heard snow falling off of trees and roofs throughout the night).  Then we made our way to the airport via the Falls and North Bend.

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It was a good trip with lots of good moments.  A change of scenery is almost always nice, which is especially true if snow is (safely) involved.  And we got there just in time to enjoy what will possibly be the last snowfall of the season.  It was nice not thinking too much about “island business” (though “island business” is always in the back of my mind).  As always, I didn’t get as much reading done as I had hoped (though I made good headway again with Chesterton’s Napoleon of Notting Hill on the plane.    Today will be a day for unpacking, running to the grocery store, and getting ready to enjoy a few more days of spring break before heading back to the classroom on Tuesday.

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The “soundtrack” for this last leg of the trip was an Andrew Peterson album that I hadn’t given much time to (at least not as a whole).  Counting Stars dropped back in 2010.  The standout track for me, particularly coming down from the pass, was “The Magic Hour,” which you can listen to below.