If you have just joined in you may want to start with the first post in this wedding weekend series, which can be found here. To recap, we arrived in Bend and enjoyed a wonderful pre-wedding family dinner. It’s now Sunday and the kids are awake and ready for the pool. But we need nourishment first and thankfully we have a free continental breakfast waiting for us courtesy of our wonderful hotel. We got downstairs before the rush of the hungry arrived and devoured everything in site. The kids got their fruity colored cereal and I got to make a couple of waffles in the cool waffle maker they had. I’m pretty sure they tasted so good because I poured and cooked them myself. After breakfast the boys were clamouring non-stop to head down to the pool. So we put on the bathing suits and headed down to the pool, which amazingly was devoid of all life. The water was really warm and the boys splashed around and indicated that they were never going to come out. Zachary, my oldest, was still having some fear about swimming and having water go over his head so we managed to coerce him into slipping on a life jacket and trying to float around a bit in the deep end a bit. After a short time he was swimming the length of the pool so we were pretty excited about seeing that. We were finally able to coax the kids out of the pool so we went back to the room and packed everything up to check out and head up to Elk Lake Resort where the wedding was to take place and where we would stay the night in some rustic cabins.
After checking out of the hotel we decided that it would be best to strap on the ol’ feedbag before heading out to the cabins, so we stopped for lunch at a place called Boston’s. It’s a gourmet pizza joint/ sports bar. The kids ordered pizza, the wife ordered an individual spicy chicken pizza and I ordered fish tacos. But before that came we enjoyed a delicious plate of nachos which was the best plate of nachos I have ever had. The jalapenos on the nachos destroyed my stomach later but looking back I still feel it was worth the suffering. Full from the meal we attempted to navigate our way out of Bend and onto the Cascade Lakes Hwy toward Elk Lake. If you have ever been to Bend you are aware that most of the intersections throughout town are actually round-abouts. Being a newb in town I had no idea how to get to the road we needed so I asked the gas station attendant if he knew. He gave me what seemed at the time fairly simple directions of going straight, turning right a Reed Market and going through and endless number of round-abouts until we were supposed to see a sign for Mt. Bachelor. We did everything as instructed except for the turn to Mt. Bachelor which resulted in us taking a 20 minute drive around Mt. Washington Road, which wasn’t too bad as we got to see a lot of Bend we hadn’t seen before. Finally after completing this large loop and ending up right back where we started we saw a sign for Mt. Bachelor and started the 40 minute drive over to Elk lake. If you have ever had the good fortune of driving this road then you are fully aware of how beautiful this drive is. I’ll conclude Part 2 with a few photos of the beauty of this area. Stay tuned for Part 3 of Wedding Weekend.
Last weekend my sister got married. She lives in Bend so we loaded up the car Saturday morning and began the 2 hour drive across the Cascades to Bend. We took the Hwy. 126 route which took us through Sisters Oregon. Sisters is a town I love to hate. There always seems to be traffic that backs up along the only main street through town. This time was no different and we spent a good 20 minutes traveling 1/4 mile. Finally we made it through and proceeded toward Bend. I actually enjoy the drive between Sisters and Bend which passes through the high desert with great views of the Three Sisters. We arrived in Bend and after some misdirection arrived at our hotel, which was the Fairfield Inn by Marriott. The kids were excited to be staying in a hotel, especially one with a pool. We checked in and took a brief rest and then headed over to my sisters house where there was a big family dinner planned. The dinner was incredible. I enjoyed a plate of cheesy grits with shrimp (see below) which was absolutely delicious.
We also enjoyed some good margaritas although my 3rd was a bit strong (mainly tequila with a splash of mix). Lots of good conversations and time spent getting to know the families better. It was probably one of the more enjoyable evenings I have spent in quite some time.
It was getting late and the next day was the wedding so after saying out good nights we headed back to the hotel and called it a day. Even the cat was worn out.
Woke up this morning and started thinking about the predicted 90 degree weather here in the valley. What do you do when the weather gets hot here? You head for the coast where it’s a bit cooler. So we packed up the car and hit the road. Rather than hit the usual places we’ve been to many times before we decided to head to the north Oregon coast from Newport on north. We headed up Hwy. 99 to Corvallis and then west on Hwy 20 to Newport. The drive was nice despite the constant chatter from the back seat of “Are we there yet?” or “How much farther?” As soon as we hit Newport though we knew the weather would be much different. We could see the fog bank skirting the shoreline and while the wind wasn’t too bad it was definitely cool outside. It was strange to look toward the ocean and see fog and then look inland and see nothing but sunshine. We drove north on Hwy 101 to Agate Beach where we let the kids out to run and play on the beach. They scoured the shore for shells and rocks. We found lots of jellyfish and a sand burrowing crab that we played with. Eventually we put the crab near the water and watched him burrow deep into the sand and disappear. The kids continued to run into the water and let the waves chase them. At one point I wasn’t paying too close attention to the boys and they wandered out a bit toward the waves. A larger wave then they were used to came in and knocked both of them off their feet and tossed them around in the surf a bit. I could see my youngest son floating with a look of pure panic on his face. Keep in mind that the water off the Oregon coast is not a nice warm tropical water. It’s bone chilling icy cold freeze your arse off water and both boys were now soaked by it. I raced into the water myself and hoisted them both out. The older boy wanted to keep playing in it but the youngest was crying and saying he didn’t want to go to the beach any longer. I got them back up to the car and we dried them off and changed clothes. Back on the road we continued north through Depoe Bay to Lincoln City and then further north through Cloverdale, Beaver and Pleasant Valley to Tillamook where we were going to stop at the Air Museum but first stopped at the Tillamook Cheese Factory where we got to see the production floor of a large cheese making facility. The place was packed to the hilt but the kids wanted ice cream. To get the ice cream you had to wait in a long line to order and pay. Then once you got your order receipt you had to shuffle over to another line where you had to wait to actually get your ice cream. The problem was that none of the lines was clearly identified so we waited a long time in the wrong line and had to then go to the back of the correct line. By the time we got out of there it was too late to go to the museum as they were closing in 30 minutes. Oh well…I guess we’ll save that for another time. We decided to keep driving north since this was new territory for us and stumbled upon a small town named Garibaldi. This weekend happened to be Garibaldi Days and they had some special trains in town. The first thing you notice when you enter the town is the tall smoke stack which is all that remains of the Whitney Mill built in 1921. The kids also quickly spotted the train which turned out to be the Oregon Coast Scenic Railroad. They were in the process of moving some engines on the track so the boys really enjoyed that. The engine was a 1910 Heisler Steam Locomotive and we watched them fill it up with water from a fire hydrant. There was also a non-functional Polar Express train engine there which the kids instantly recognized from the movie. We also got to see the Great Northern (pictured) which was exciting. By this time it was getting late in the day so we headed for home. All in all an exciting day with the family. On to the next big adventure.
Happy Thanksgiving! I’m thankful for a great family and the opportunity to spend time with them. Leave a comment with what you are thankful for.
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