We took a 3-day mini-vacation with our friends, the Nostrands to one of our very favorite places, Bend, Oregon. We still just love the area so much! This was the first time we'd visited in the summer and it was beautiful. I only wish we had a little longer that we could explore more outside the city limits. We did see and do lots of fun activities. We started our "tour" in Sunriver, Oregon which is about 15 minutes south of Bend. We drove around a little and saw some beautiful vacation homes and then did some browsing in the shops. After treating ourselves to ice cream, we headed into Bend to check into our hotel. We walked to dinner at the yummy Ranchero Grill and then did some late night swimming.
Saturday we cruised around town for a bit and found a park the kids could scooter and burn off some energy. Right across the street from the park was a barn with a couple of horses out front. This was the best part of the whole trip for Ella! She so loves horses and was so excited when one of them came trotting over for her to pet. Some of the other things we did today was visit the Old Mill District Shops, played at the Working Wonders Childrens Museum (Jacob's favorite part of the trip!), go-carts and games at the Sun Mountain Fun Center, more swimming, and lots of eating. 
Sunday we did a little shopping at the outlets in the morning and then headed south. We visited Crater Lake National Park. It was incredibly beautiful! Such a surreal place and my fear came true...my pictures wouldn't do the colors and the view justice.
The past 3 days were so fun and it was such a treat to go on a vacation with Karen, Fred, Bryan, and Josh. The kids all got along so well and I think the only trouble was fighting over who got to sit next to Jacob at meal times!
We have one more trip planned for this summer. We are camping in Yosemite with friends later this week. And then.....school starts 3 weeks from today....yikes!!!
BONUS...little video of Crater Lake...again, this does not do the place justice....
3 comments:
Looks like such a good trip--everything looked so fun! I actually think you got good Crater Lake pix, although I do know the frustration you're talking about--must be a lighting/distance issue--I dunno! What a great idea to do a video though--wish "Ida" thought of it! :>)
WOW!!!!! First I was going to say that the pictures of Ella and the horse were my absolute favorites but then I kept going! You got such beautiful shots of Crater Lake and great pictures of everybody while you were there! I knew I wanted to go there after seeing Angela's pictures and you just reconfirmed it for me! So glad to see that you guys had such a wonderful time!
We always have such a great time in Bend. I can't wait to go at Christmas time. I was glad to have gone to Crater Lake. So impressive!! These vacations mean so much to me. Thank you for always organizing these vacations for us. I love you!!
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