The Creepiest Place on Earth

(For some reason I cannot get this post to format correctly--please ignore the spaces.)

We visited Oregon for our summer vacation. We spent 4 days in Portland and 4 days at the beach. We had a great time. We thought driving up to Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood would be a nice Sunday activity. It’s a bit of a drive from Portland, but it was a beautiful sunny day so we made the trek.

Now , for your information, Timberline Lodge was used in some exterior shots for the movie, The Shining. When you approach the mountain as well as the lodge their austere nature can be otherworldly.

The Shining is really the only horror movie I have seen. I saw it for the first time at a slumber party in high school and being of a highly sensitive nature I spent most of the movie in the bathroom reading a magazine. It is also one of my husband’s favorite movies and every time he watches it, just hearing the music sends me screaming outside. 

So, the exterior of the hotel creeps me out, BUT the interior--Oy vey!

The interiors for the movie were not filmed at the lodge—they were filmed on a sound stage. The interiors at Timberline do not even look like the ones in the movie. Yet, the inside of Timberline still managed to raise the hair on the back of my neck.  It is dark, claustrophobic, and I know it supposed to be rustic, but it somehow for me it crosses a line.

Now for the decor and I must make a disclaimer, Timberline Lodge is heralded for its decor, so it may have been the way I was feeling on the day, or  my small mind going small places.

Here is one of the architects Gilbert Stanley Underwood. Note the little Timberline he is holding, the small crow and the dog with a leash falling like blood from his neck. It struck me as a spine chilling.

Does it feel a little medieval torture chamber to you?

This is the Women's Restroom

Zeus is Alive and Well in Holladay

I had an epiphany a little while ago when I realized I had written myself out of my own life. I have some back/spine issues that have worried me. I've needed physical therapy and of course my answer was the procrastination method of healing. Putting it off made me afraid to do things. I couldn't do long hikes because I was afraid of getting half way there and not being able to get back. Walking, which had always been a joy, was painful. In fact I could walk up hills, but standing or walking on flat surfaces caused terrible pain in my left leg and even scarier to me was my foot going numb. 

I used to be athletic, really athletic, and now I send my kids and husband on hikes, watch them swim and generally write myself out. I've hidden from cameras and when caught by one, I try to disappear in the back.  I've dug a huge hole and I needed to climb out, but how?  All my little homespun ideas were not working. I needed accountability.

Then my sister called and wanted a workout buddy. She had been working out with a personal trainer since last October--let's call him Zeus. Yes, Zeus (a.k.a. Jared Trevino).  By golly this sister had became fitter, faster, and stronger. She invited me to start on June 1st. The goals I made for getting in shape last new year were getting dusty up on the shelf so I decided to take her up on it.

That is how I met Zeus.  I walked into the Fit Forever on June 1st and have been stiff and sore ever since. In fact the days that I haven't been sore I can probably count using just my two little hands.

The first workout was about the most humbling thing I've ever done. I walked in - and even though I lost 25 pounds last year I was definitely the largest person in the room! Of course in that room there wasn't anyone remotely unfit. I couldn't do a push up and I had to stop halfway through for a bit so I didn't throw up. I left happy because I hadn't died. Zeus looked gleeful--like he had found a mortal lump of clay that was ready for the molding! That's how he is though--he didn't make me feel fat--he made me feel powerful. (Although I could not walk for days afterward without groaning.)

A couple of weeks later he wanted to measure my body fat.  This made me pretty uncomfortable, so what do I do when I'm uncomfortable, I make a joke. This is me, "Have you ever had anyone 80% body fat before.  I could be a record setter." He smiled, but had an astounded look in his eye. I asked him what that look was for. He said something like he didn't like to hear that kind of talk because somewhere deep inside of me I might believe it. It was a revelation.

I say things like this to myself all of the time. I feel like if I say something funny and self-deprecating or negative about myself I can beat what anyone else says or thinks to the punch.  This is not something Zeus allows.  

I think the biggest changes are that I feel brave physically and positive about myself psychologically.

It's been three months and I don't even feel like the same person. I did 12 push-ups (almost perfectly) last Thursday. I talked to my sister for one hour standing--without an ounce of pain. I can do squats 'till the cows come home (too much information?), but best of all I haven't missed a hike all summer. Today we hiked Mt. Grandeur up Millcreek Canyon. It's about 5.5 miles round trip and with a gain of 2300 feet. I was about the last of our group getting there--but who cares, I did it. From that peak I had a great view of Mt. Olympus and gave Zeus a nod while a fellow hiker took pictures.

Proof of Life! 

Trumpet Vines & Hummingbird Grace

Along with probably everyone in the western world, I am engaged in a lifelong struggle between feeling exhausted from being too busy to feeling useless because I'm not doing enough. It can happen over weeks or sometimes in a matter of hours.

It actually feels kind of stupid to complain because as my husband says, all of the time, "it's all good." But I'm tired. The last month hasn't even been unusual and probably a lot like everyone elses life. Much has been fun--like vacation. Some was a little sad--a daughter back at school. Some was annoying--because we moved there are new schools and new lives that obviously need some fine tuning. So there's the hours at the elementary, the new junior high and the loads of cash I sent with my daughter to the high school.

This evening with myself on my mind I went and sat on the back porch. All I can think about is how little I've done and how much still needs to be accomplished.  I say a little prayer asking for help, especially with prioritizing my life. As I finish a hummingbird flies up to within six inches of my nose.

Now, I swear I am not exaggerating when I tell you he proceeded to cock his head and look at me quizzically. He continued to hover perfectly in a way that made him look as if he was standing on air. Then, while I barely had time to process that the hummingbird was actually staring at me, another came up, hovered momentarily, as if curious to why his friend wasn't devouring trumpet vine nectar, and then chased the first away.

They merrily flew away up the canyon. I merrily went in the house and forgot the gloom!

One of the many hummingbirds I
discovered in our trumpet vine today.