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This past weekend my husband, Karl, and I volunteered to help with the maintenance of Silcox Hut, perched at the 7000 foot level of Mt. Hood, high above Timberline Lodge. We reached Timberline around 7:00 PM, loaded our gear plus the pipe and Jorgenson clamps we'd brought with us, and headed up the road (and I use the term "road" very loosely, I assure you) with several others, driven by the overlord of the Hut, Steve. Now we first met Steve about 13 years ago when we stayed at Silcox and have called him the "mushroom man" for years, having forgotten his name. Steve originally hails from Saugus, Massachusetts, which will go a long way to explain both his accent and his manner. Coming from the Boston area myself, I have to say I thoroughly enjoy talking with him. Should you ever make it up the mountain, be sure to stop in and chat with him. He's been up there for more than a dozen years and probably knows that area of Mt. Hood as well as anyone else. When he gives you advice on the mountain, my advice is - take it!

Friday night Steve cooked the whole crew a fantastic dinner and dessert - perhaps it was a bit of a bribe to get us to work hard the next day getting his home in shape for the winter season. There had been a crew up there during the previous week, and already things were getting into shape. The stones that make up the floor had worn in several high traffic spots and were being repaired. There were tiles to be replaced in the bathrooms, the benches needed to be glued together (that was our job!), etc. etc. After all that was done, the hut had to be cleaned from top to bottom.

As with any project like this, when all set to work, the jobs were done relatively quickly, and we sat down Saturday night to another fine meal, cooked by one of the other volunteers. After dinner we had planned to go back down the mountain, but Steve had just taken a trip down to Timberline and back and decided that it wasn't a good idea to take the trip again. Although it hadn't snowed much, it had drifted pretty deep across the road, and Steve had gotten stuck in a number of spots. So, we were officially snowed in!

This pic is of the luxurious accommodations at Silcox - bunk rooms for four. My only question is -- who was that third person in our room the first night??

I can't say we were at all upset about having to stay at Silcox another night. Usually, the only way you can get there is to reserve the hut with a minimum of 16 people. There are only a few weekends a year when individuals can sign up and they usually are run by the group Friends of Silcox Hut.

Sunday morning was gorgeous! The snow had stopped and you could see to the south beyond the Sisters.

The flight from Rarotonga to Aitutaki is short (less than an hour) but it gives you a sense of how much in the middle of nowhere you are. Leaving Raro behind, you see nothing but deep blue ocean until Aitutaki appears, its lagoon a brilliant turquoise.


The island is so small I wonder if the airplane will have enough room to land! Having heard about the changes in security due to the London plot, we are amused and actually relieved to notice that we are not only allowed to carry liquids on the plane, but also that one of our fellow passengers is carrying a machete wrapped up in his jacket! Land we do, and we are greeted at the Aitutaki International Airport by our driver who will take us to our cabins on stilts where we will stay for three nights.

The Virgin Islands come in two varieties - British and US, but in one of those "How did THAT happen?" deals, the official currency of both is the US dollar. The Brits seem to have won on one point though - on both the British and US Virgin Islands the cars are driven on the left side of the road.

Columbus named these islands after the 11,000 martyred handmaidens of Saint Ursula when he came across them - the islands, not the virgins. (The native population of Caribs and Arawaks was soon decimated by the usual run of disease and nasty treatment that most native populations encountered during the Colonial period.) The US bought several of the islands from the Danes back in 1917.

Whether you are traveling to St. Croix, St. Thomas, St. John (in the US Virgins) or Tortola, Virgin Gorda or Peter Island (in the British Virgins) you're bound to be able to find a resort that is just right for you! If you are looking for a Virgin Islands Honeymoon, you're going to have some wonderful resorts to choose from!