Chapter 405

Happy Birthday to Kyanne and Jenna 

(in order of appearance).

I love this photo of Jenna at her wedding!

Kyanne winning her trophy at the Seattle Jag Club slalom we held at Emerald Downs.

 This year we tried the multi-generational vacation and rented a house in Bend, Oregon. The house gave us all our own space with room for Reagan to run. Reagan wasn't at the cabin much other than to sleep and eat. The first morning Grampa and Reagan made Mickey waffles for breakfast.

 Reagan is sure the world is paved with painted rocks. She found some on our first park stop right by Mirror Pond. It made her day! That's the actual Mirror Pond, located on the Deschutes River, that inspired Mirror Pond beer! The houses you see in the background sell for well over $1,000,000.

We took a trip to Lava Land, just down the road. Lava Land sounds like a corny name for a volcano caldera and lava flow. We walked up around the rim of the caldera and looked at the non-existent views, thanks to the smoke. That's the fire spotting tower up on the rim of the caldera.

Here you can see the edges of the lava flow right out by the highway. 

 Reagan looks at the edge of the lava flow with her 'noculars.

I thought this intricate bleached-out tree was cool. 

We had a couple of families of deer mosey around the house so Reagan got to go to outside and watch them in the "wild".

We went to the Old Mill District in Bend to see what there was to see. It has an interesting history. This used to be an old sawmill, built in 1916 that had been closed and fallen to disrepair 

until the 1990's when it was turned into a shopping area that features enough of the old mill to give a taste of it's history. The three smoke stacks and part of the steam boilers that ran the saws below them are built into REI building as well as a distinictive landmark for Bend.

We took photos at the Old Mill. Here are the goofy old people

...and the cute Walker family. You can see the boiler stacks in the background. 

We took Reagan for a pony ride at Sunriver stables.

We rode a 4-person bike in the near 100 degree heat.

And walked around Sunriver. Yes, Reagan is walking with a snake looped around her neck like she's shopping Rodeo Drive!

 We floated the Deschutes River and for obvious reasons, we don't have any photos. but we had a good time and Reagan did great. She wasn't really sure about it, but she did quite well.

While the kids were out doing things that people with kids do, us old folks were out Geocaching. Here Bob is mobbing through the woods looking for a cache we found in this camouflaged bird house.

One thing about Geocaching is that it takes us to areas that we ordinarily wouldn't visit. We found this pretty water/lake/inlet...

A field with horses and an airport in the background...

 And something I've certainly never seen before. An electrified crosswalk to prevent livestock from getting to the freeway. I made Bob go first after the pushed the crosswalk button since he has electrical experience. After he made it across alive, I figured it was safe for me to cross. What didn't occur to me until we got ready to cross back is that there isn't a button on that side. While I was prancing around trying to figure out what to do, Bob took control of this dangerous situation and hopped the crosswalk to make sure it was safe for me. 

When it was time to go home, we crossed through some really smoky territory.

We passed by the Whitewater fire that started in June, is 0% contained, and is expected to burn until October when the rains come. There is concern that the smoke will interfere with the eclipse viewers that are due to invade the area soon and disrupt Oregon's leisurely lifestyle.

While we raced home for Bob to get ready for a slalom he is in charge of, the Walkers stopped to visit JoAnn and the southern family. It looks like the cousins are getting along quite well.

Kyanne offered to help with the slalom and arrived on site bright and early. Here she stands with her coffee telling her dad and another very experienced slalom participant how to align lasers.

 

Kyanne not only stepped in and did the paperwork that had received no forethought from either Bob or me, she decided to run her little Subaru in the slalom. It became a family affair with me running my Impreza, and Bob running his XKE. Kyanne did an awesome job and for that earned herself a trophy, the only one in the family!

Kyanne and her trophy. I'm such a proud mama!

 Kyanne with her little Subie and helmet next to her dad's Jaguar.

We arrived home to find the zucchini plant that I had fully harvested before we left had managed to produce many, many, MANY more squash in the 5 days we were gone. There are 4 on just this one part of one of my 5 plants.

Y'all plan on getting a bag of little Tom Thumb (decorative) pumpkins this year. We're gonna have a lot of 'em!

I had lots of pictures to share but I'm having trouble transferring them and, fortunately for you dear reader, I've finally given up. I'll try to have it figured out by next week and maybe there will be some slalom photos as well.

Have a good week everyone!