Our Bend Trip-The End

Like I said in yesterday's post "Our Bend Trip-Part Two", I'm saving the best for last!

This little adventure was a favorite for all of us, I think. 

Pete had heard about Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch on a "Focus on the Family" radio show years ago, and has wanted to go visit ever since. On our last trip (when we were just passing through Bend to get to the coast), we weren't able to go. But this time, he made sure that we got to go visit.

Crystal Peaks (just a few miles north of Bend) is an organization that rescues abused and dying horses and pairs them with children in need. Troy and Kim Meeder run the ranch and Kim has written 3 books (I've read the first two, and they are some of the BEST books I've ever read--the stories will bring you to tears, but are so awe-inspiring and full of God's hope!!) called Hope Rising, Bridge Called Hope, and Blind Hope. Troy has also written a book called Average Joe. 

So, we spent an afternoon visiting this awesome place!! Here are some photo highlights....

The sign that greeted us at the entrance to the ranch!

This cute little dwelling was the first thing we saw as we walked down the gravel road to the ranch. Troy and Kim bought this piece of land when it was just the remnant of a cinder pit. They have patiently and lovingly restored it into a beautiful place where horses and people are healed!

Ellie enjoyed her ride on this cute wooden horse!

One of the horses at the ranch. We got a tour of the ranch and were introduced to quite a few of the horses with details of where they had come from (many horrifying stories, but all with great endings:o)).

A view of the ranch...this is one of the ranch's arenas where an instructor works with a child and a horse. The ranch's program is special in that it almost always pairs one child with one horse, guided by one leader. All this is done free of charge--always! Just awesome!!

 Ellie enjoying a ride on this ingenious "horse-walker" swing for kids.

This old cowboy wood statue (sorta reminds me of my grandpa or as Ellie calls him, Opa Hat (because he's always got a cowboy hat on)) posed with Ellie and me in front of the tack room.

The ranch's well-organized wall of bridles in the tack room. Each of those names represents a horse saved--so inspiring!

As we were leaving (walking back down the gravel road to get to our car), this beautiful horse came to tell us good-bye!

Ellie got caught in a surprise good-bye "sniff". Too funny!

Our Bend Trip-Part Two

Here are some more of our photo highlights from our vacation to Bend, Oregon (if you haven't read "Part One", see that post first:o)).

Ellie lost her 2nd bottom front tooth on this trip. At first she was worried that the Tooth Fairy wouldn't find her in Bend, but we assured her that we had let TF know, and so when she lost the tooth (at a restaurant) she was pretty excited! The TF came to visit that night and left her one dollar (which she decided she must spend immediately!)

We thought a trip to the library for some book time might be fun. As soon as we hit the children's corner, Pete plopped down on this huge stuffed bear. I found him this great book that I thought he and Ellie would both enjoy, being that it was all about him:o). And he and Ellie had some great cuddle and "chill" time.

Drake Park in downtown Bend is such a lovely park. And there's a nice stretch of walking path along the Deschutes River to walk along and enjoy the scenery.

There were lots of ducks (including this sweet little duckling) at the park. 

And here's my "little duckling" :o) enjoying the park.

We also took a tour of the Deschutes Brewery where they brew and bottle all their beers, including Black Butte Porter and Mirror Pond Pale Ale. It was neat to see the behind-the-scenes way that beer is made. And Pete really enjoyed the free samples!!

On our last day in Bend, there was a great classic car show in Drake Park. Pete loves classic cars (he has a 1965 Mustang convertible in our garage. It's beautiful, but he just needs to find some time (HA! Easier said than done) to finish the brakes then it will be drivable again) and they had so many neat cars to look at. We all really liked this one, and asked Ellie to pose in front of it (it was a little cold that morning...thus she's wearing my "too big for her" sweater).

And tomorrow...I'm saving the BEST for last, I'll share photos from one of our favorite things we did on our trip. Can't wait to share a story with you...

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!).