Flying to Oregon - our introduction to Mount Hood

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles

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Today we flew from Westchester airport to Chicago to Portland. Flying over eastern Oregon the ground was brown desert. Before I researched this trip, I didn't realize Oregon also is partially dry desert. We could see smoke from wildfires from the plane. What can burn in the desert? I always thought of the Pacific Northwest as a place where it rains all of the time. When we were approaching Portland, the pilot started talking about all of the mountains that could be seen from the right side of the plane - Mount Adams, Rainier, etc. Wait! We were sitting on the left side of the plane. Who knew it was important which side of the plane you get seats on?

But then the pilot said that in 5 minutes we'd see Mount Hood from the left side of the plane. It was so huge and majestic. I'm in love!!!! I loved flying next to a mountain as opposed to just looking down at a mountain. This is the area we'll be hiking in for the next few days.

The airport temporarily lost our luggage. We spent the evening waiting around the airport to see if it would arrive on a later flight. It didn't. We gave up and drove to a Whole Foods for dinner in Portland, and then on to our hotel in Hood River, arriving after 10:30pm. We were exhausted by then and went straight to bed.

Brown desert - wildfire in the back

Approaching Mount Hood!

Smokey skies