Bend

We spent a long weekend* in Bend, and it was great, especially since it might be our first real, official vacation as a family of three. We stayed Friday through Tuesday, and did an equal amount of relating and adventuring.

• Friday afternoon, we were greeted by six deer, outside the house.  We sat in the car and watched, then Charlie snuck out to grab the camera, and we got a few shots.  They drank from the neighbor's birdbath and pooped in the yard, then what followed were many conversations about deer poop, and walking around to spot but not touch the deer poop.
• We had some pine cone gathering and pine cone throwing contests.  A LOT of them.

• Bend has awesome playgrounds, like one with a pirate ship play structure and a super long slide, right on the river, with a foot bridge. 

• I visited my dear friend Heather.  Her three girls have a huge playroom with all the toys a toddler could imagine.  Her youngest daughter Samara showed us all her dresses.  Scarlett played up in that room with the older girls, and she really didn't want to leave, but was finally coerced by the promise of ice cream.
• Heather, Cheri and I ran a 10K on Sunday morning. Bend is hot, even at 9am.

• We visited the Bend Distillery.  
• Charlie took a brewery tour while I took a nap. This felt like a winning afternoon for both of us.
• There are some really nice river paths, so we took walks, and played with gravel, and pulled weeds, and looked at geese.

• Monday, we spent several hours at the High Desert Museum, which is maybe the most awesome place on the planet for kids.  In addition to standard museum stuff, there was a porcupine, otters, snakes, owls, and giant turtles.  There was an indoor rock area with a stone slide, and an eagle's nest on top, which Scar loved. There was a dark path through a fake coal mine, which Scarlett did not love.
• Oh, and they let the kids pet the turtles.

On the way home, I asked Scarlett what her favorite part of Bend was.  I thought for sure, the turtles, or Heather's playroom.  But she said 'ice cream sundae!'. 

*This vacation, brought to you by friends with a vacation home, Bert and Cheri.