Recipe For A Wonderful Vacation!

Ingredients:

The High Desert of Oregon

Two sets of really cool friends and their really cool kids

Some fun activities that involve a pool and exploring outside

Some type of adult beverages (I recommend wine and a ton of strawberry margarita's)

For the Kiddo's- lots of lemonade

Mix one part warm high desert terrain, one part special activities, and two parts really good friends.

Toss it all together. Add wine and margarita's to taste.

Bake in the sun by the pool for one week.

At the end of the baking period you'll have made many wonderful vacation memories.  

Ahhhhh the fun.

Last week we went to the the High Desert of Central Oregon. This area of Oregon is my favorite. I have so many memories of this dry brush filled land. The smell of warm pine needles, sage, and cedar floating through the air. It has to be experienced. You must feel the sun on your skin and the heavy heat in the air.

If you ever get the chance-go. There is so much to do and so many things to experience.

Here are some of our activities. We went on long walks beside the Deschutes River. The water is cool but so refreshing you can swim around or dip your toes.

We hiked up a beautiful hill to get a birds eye view of the majestic Cascade Mountains.

We rented a house at Eagle Crest Resort. The pools are fun and not crowded. This is not a photo of a pool. :)

We went on a day trip to the Painted Hills by the John Day River. They are incredible. The searing heat was intense but it made it all the more special to smell the hot earth and experience some of the conditions the  settlers must have faced. Yes, believe it or not people actually lived and still do live in this area. Most of it is national park land but there are surrounding farms and ranches.

 The hardships the settlers endured were unbelievable. They made people tough back then. (I thought about this as I rushed back to the car and cranked the air conditioning).  We accidentally read a sign that told us to look out for black widow spiders and rattle snake etc. Needless to say the boys stayed to the path, eyes wide open. 

Can you hear the wagon wheels?

Even the little flowers couldn't handle the heat. After awhile I felt much like the little wilted flowers.

We went to The John Day Fossil Beds in Fossil, Oregon and dug for  . .  .guess what? Yes, fossil's. And we found some. The fossils were in every layer of earth. It was very exciting and rewarding. They boys loved it.  There is a  designated area for digging so we weren't doing anything to harm the beautiful landscape.

On our way home we stopped at out favorite coffee spot Sisters Coffee in the cute town of Sisters.

The barista told me they are opening a shop in the Pearl District in Portland. I am soooo all over that.

Then we took the Old McKenzie Highway up to the Dee Wright Observatory. This place is incredible. The lava flows are impressive and the lookout is so cool.

Lava rock everywhere.

Our boys got to sit in the windows.

Now the most fun activity of all . . . 

LAUNDRY!