A day and a half bulging with the variety and extremes of Pacific Northwest climate, landscape and culture. Brunch in a hip Portland eatery Thursday morning. Snowshoing that afternoon up on Mt. Hood. Stillness and silence as we walked across the deep snow covering a small forest lake. After something of a snow-chain-applying debacle, a drive into near blizzard conditions at about 4000 feet to visit Timberline Lodge, where the exterior shots of The Shining were taken. The snow looked to be 15 to 20 feet deep from the upper levels of the lodge as we had a quick drink. Then, the prudent desire to get to well below 4,0000 feet before night fell. As my friends and I tried to scrape the car windows clear of snow and ice - we did this with the caps from a couple of water bottles, lacking a snow scraper; obviously very prepared for these conditions - there could have been some homicidal father just yards away dragging his bloody axe and his psychoti...