Sunriver

I love Sunriver. I often remenisce about all of the winters there with my family, summers with the Pattisons, and the trips whenever we felt like it to Ethan's place, where we undoubtedly always had a fantastic time.

A couple of weeks ago I had an epiphany. "we should go to Sunriver for a long weekend" I say. To which Andy replied "sure". The fun part was that we had to be the adults and reserve a house, pay the bill, buy the food, etc. It seems there was more involved in all of those trips than I was aware of. We found a house with a hot tub (number 1 requirement) and the other Wheelers, Nick and Sarah, agreed to share the abode with us for the weekend, another bonus!

We began the trip on Friday morning from Portland, the weather was good, roads were clear, and the snowsuits and swimsuits were packed. We even remembered Lily. The drive was beautiful, Lily saw her first Dam as we approached Detroit Lake, which was mostly devoid of water. Everytime we pointed anything out of interest to Lily on the drive, her response was "But I want to go on vacation!".

The drive over the mountain was uneventful. The roads were bare, and the snow level was uncharacteristcally low. But the sun was shining and it was beautiful. The strange thing was that we came around a corner and saw emergency vehicles and a single car accident at the EXACT same spot as Andy and I had crashed years ago. Eerie I say.

We stopped in Sisters for some much needed leg stretching. Andy and Lily found a park, I found a coffee. It was warm and the sun was shining, yet the ground was frozen solid. We had to explain to Lily that this still "was not vacation, we'll be there soon". So we continued on to Bend for a stop for groceries and gas before heading to the final destination.

The house was perfect. Antler chandelier in the dining room, stairs for Lily to hike up and down as many times a day as she could muster, fireplace, and a great hot tub. "I like our vacation house" Lily says. Nick and sarah arrived later that night, and we all had a great time settling in.

Saturday we decide to head out in the Jeep in search of sledding, or Benham Falls, or something. We venture down a road which was off another road, which was off a road before that. We're all having fun on the roller coaster of ice and snow, until the road starts getting less travelled and harder to navigate, and I say "I think we should turn around"... and then this happens.

Never fear, Andy got us out and turned around, and then we went sledding on the ice.


Stacie was able to leave work for the night, so she came over for dinner, phase 10, and hot tub fun. I would post photos of the hot tub, which Lily loved (she called it the "hot bath tub"), but there were parties present who requested their photos from the hot tub not be published.

Sunday Stacie and I had a girls trip to Bend where I stocked up on all sorts of English confectioneries from Cost Plus, and found Lily these adorable and warm Sherpa boots for $3. We had coffee, saw several huge dogs, and checked out her awesome condo. I'm jealous and want to live in Bend. Not sure what Andy and Lily did exactly during this time, but I am fairly sure it involved sledding, and feeding some fish at the hatchery with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Nick. Poor Nick and Sarah couldn't get away from the Lily, she followed them everywhere like a lost sheep, and demanded to know their whereabouts at all times. I think she likes them.

Monday was departure day. Much to Lily's dismay we had to pack up and leave our "vacation house". This did not go over well. She had one more dip in the hot bath tub, and away we went. We had to stop at Deschutes brewery on the way out of town for lunch, Stacie met us there, and I had the Best mushroom dip sandwich. Which I Highly reccommend.

We had a fantastic time! rested, relaxed, had lots of fun, and can't wait to go back again soon.