It's been a while since our last blog post. Since mid December, we have survived Arctic Blast '08 (a week or two of frigid temperatures and significant snowfall in the greater-Portland area), a nice Christmas with our friends Kelly and Jack, and a wonderful trip back to NC over New Years, where we visited old friends and a good portion of Nate's family, who were vacationing in Nags Head. As we bed-hopped from house to house, we were treated to wonderful food, great company, and lots of dog-friends we have missed. Our thanks to everyone for a fantastic visit. On Saturday, our friends Cory and Todd invited us along for a day trip up into the Cascades to do some snowshoeing- a first for me and Nate. After a 2.5 hour drive out over the Santiam Pass, we arrived at Ray Benson Snow Park, right next to the Hoodoo ski resort. It was a beautiful day to be out in the snow, with bright blue skies, sunshine, and fairly warm temperatures!
We ate our lunch at a shelter about 1/3 of the way along the 4 mile loop we were 'shoeing. 
Here's a view of Three-fingered Jack, one of the big Cascade peaks in the area. From points on the trail we could also see the Three Sisters and Mount Washington. 
