Parts West (Part 3)

Day 2 of our trip into Oregon we had to wake up early as we were scheduled to go river rafting trip down the Deschutes River. The half day trip was with the River Drifters out of Maupin, Oregon. This was my first ever river rafting trip and, as you can imagine, I was very excited. I didn’t bring my camera as I don’t have a waterproof one. The photo was taken by one of their photographers who set up alongside the river to catch us as we go by. The weather was perfect and although the water was cold (for a Floridian/Alabamian) it wasn’t too bad as the air temperature was in the 80s. I was quite comfortable. We all enjoyed our trip – I had a blast. They are very kid friendly and allowed the young ones to “ride the bull” by sitting on the bow as we rode through the rapids. Our guide, Jada, was quite knowledgeable.

That’s me in the bright green shirt on top.

We returned to Bingen and relaxed the rest of the afternoon. Day 3 we packed our gear and headed to our next stop. Sisters, Oregon. On the way, we stopped at a U-Pick cherry farm. I was like a kid in a candy shop. I love cherries and I loved picking my own. Here are some photos of that.

Bing Cherries

They also had apple trees

I know, I was being careful but I wanted to reach the best, ripest cherries

View of Mount Hood from the U-Pick Farm

On our way to our vacation home rental in Sisters, we stopped along the way. Trillium Lake in the Mount Hood National Forest and Smith Rock State Park.

View of Mount Hood on our way to Sisters

We stopped at Trillium Lake in the Mount Hood National Forest.

We live in such a beautiful country. Being able to see it and enjoy it makes me very happy and it makes me doubly happy to have spent it with my daughter, son in law and my beautiful grand children.

Next stop was Smith Rock State Park

We went for a hike. I’m bringing up the rear.

Smith Rock State Park. We hiked down one of the trails to get to the Crooked River. I think we ended up making our own path at some point.

Crawdad in the Crooked River

Thanks for the photo Kim. I love it.

Again, thanks for the photo Kim. Athena and I trying not to slip on one of the rocks.

Some of the beautiful wildflowers at Smith Rock State Park

The vacation home that my daughter and son in law chose for us to stay it was out of this world amazing. Sisters, Oregon is such a beautiful area.

Vacation rental in Sisters, Oregon

Amazing wildflowers in the back yard

Xeriscape in the back yard

Doe jumped the fence into the back yard

View of Black Butte from our vacation rental in Sisters. Sunsetting behind Black Butte. A 4 mile hike out and back, listed as a moderate hike. There is an elevation change of 1,550 feet (you start at 4,886 feet at the trailhead and you are at 6,436 feet at the summit). I never in my life thought I could do this, but I did. The most difficult for me was coming back down. My knees just wouldn’t cooperate.

The trail up to the summit of Black Butte. The wildflowers were magnificent.

I made it. My feet hurt but my knees were screaming in pain once I started going back down. If someone had offered me knee replacement surgery at that moment, I would have succumbed. The fire tower in the background is the one you can see in the sunset photo above.

As I reached the summit, it started to sprinkle. My poor shoes never lived another day. I bought another pair the next day in Bend, Oregon.

Enjoying the hot tub with the grands. A very welcome respite after climbing to the summit of Black Butte (yes, that is a glass of wine in my hand). I earned it!!