Our Bend Trip-Part One

We just got back from spending a week in Bend, Oregon (we took Pete's mom, "Nanny Carol", with us. Pete and I "discovered" Bend nine years ago on our way to our wedding/honeymoon on the Oregon coast, and this was our third time back. It's the neatest city...smaller (81,000) and beautiful (mountains, trees, beautiful parks) with the best restaurants ever (a seriously "foody" town!).  If you love doing outdoorsy things (ie..hiking, biking, kayaking, or skiing (Mt. Bachelor), it would be a perfect destination. But even if you just love shopping and eating:o)...it's a great place to go! We had a great stay...here are some photo "highlights".

Our first days were spent at a resort (7th Mountain) that had 3 pools! We enjoyed our time lounging around the pool in the sun...the weather was beautiful and sunny almost the entire time we were there (there was just a short spurt--20 minutes--of torrential downpour that started with a hail storm--weird, but thankfully it was short!)

Ellie showed us she did learn how to swim in the "deep water" from her swimming lessons this summer....it definitely was not a polished crawl stroke, but she swam all the way across the pool for us (and I was so happy that the money I spent this summer on lessons was worth it!).

Here she was treading water...but wanted everyone to see she was doing it in the "deep" end!

These little chipmunks were everywhere around the pool area...cute little critters!!!

We also enjoyed shopping and eating out (not having to cook was such a huge treat!)

Here's Ellie and Nanny taking "Punky Monkey" on a shopping spree...it was Ellie's goal to find a new outfit for her monkey...and she and Nanny actually found a cute one (on a clearance rack at a kid's clothing store)---"Punky" apparently wears 0-3 month clothing, just in case you were wondering....

As for FOOD...we seriously didn't have a bad meal. Bend seriously rocks the restaurants! One of our new favorite's is 10 Barrel Brewpub. Pete had this Red Curry Thai Pizza that he just loved (even though I thought the idea of having curry and vegies on a pizza was a little strange, I have to admit, it was pretty scrumptious!)....

And I had this yummy mac and cheese dish (it looked prettier before I had taken two bites out of it, but I didn't think of taking a pic of it till after I had devoured those two bites!). Delish!!!

Other places we enjoyed meals at (and would definitely recommend--none of these are very pricey either): Chow (breakfast), Typhoon (Thai), 3 Creeks Brewery in nearby Sisters, Deschutes Brewery (this is one of our faves, we've eaten there every trip!), Hola (Peruvian/Mexican), Baldy's (BBQ), and Alpenglow Cafe (brunch).  

Ellie and Nanny Carol at Three Creeks Brewery in Sisters, OR.

We also got a chance to go visit Crater Lake (a few hours south of Bend). It was beautiful, but the drive around was a little nerve-wracking for us 3 wimpy girls as we were very high up with no guard rails and roads that were literally "on the edge". It was definitely worth going to go see once though!

The beautiful lake--yes, it really is THAT blue!

 

Ellie and Ranger Darby. She did a postcard coloring project and earned a "Junior Ranger Badge"--she was pretty excited!

Ellie, Pete and me and another gorgeous view of the lake!

High 70s and there was still snow there! Crazy!

We hiked up to see Plaikni Falls...a really pretty waterfall! Worth the walk, but we should have put on some mosquito repellent...we all got our share of bites (especially Carol whose were more like "mosquito welts" instead of bites---I felt really bad for her!)

Tomorrow...Part 2 (just too many photos for one post!).