Four Years and an Adventure

Hello my friends!  Would you like to join me in celebrating my 4 years of blogging?  My first blog post was about our trip to Kahneeta, the wonderful Indian Hot Springs Resort on the Warm Springs Reservation.  I thought it would be fun to return to the place where my blog began.  My sister Denise had taken a "retreat" by herself to Sunriver Resort south of Bend and when I called to see how she was doing and told her we were going to Kahneeta for the day, she invited us to come on over to visit with her and spend the night.  Alright!  We decided to head straight to visit my sister and then go to Kahneeta the next day.  We passed by Warm Springs and the Deschutes River on our way.

When we arrived at my sister's condo that she rented (3 hrs and 15 minutes from home), I was amazed at the view right outside her window and deck!  A lake, a mountain top and a white swan!  Can you see it?

Her condo was lovely and comfortable with 2 bedrooms and a full kitchen!

She made us a nice lunch and we visited a while then we headed out so she could introduce us to her beloved Sunriver resort.  I zoomed in on the swan to show you.. isn't that cool?  It does not have a mate, however.  

As we drove around we found several families of deer, the fawns still have their spots, aren't they cute?

Denise took us to a pretty bridge where Dayle and I walked out to the middle to get some photos of the Deschutes River as it winds through the resort property, which is HUGE.

She then took us to the Village at Sunriver, where we walked about and poked into a few shops, we got the boys each a bag of fun candy, including a Gummy SNAKE that is about 2 feet long!  LOL!  

She showed us the golf courses and the airport and the lodge.  This is near the airport and is the draft horses that are used to pull sleighs when it is snowy here.

A Belgian and some black Percherons.  See the sun setting over the mountains?

For my husband, the helicopter pilot, it was fun to see these 2 Chinook helicopters, they are ex-military and now used for fire-fighting.

And so.. I convinced Denise and Dayle that it would be fun to park in front of the horse pasture and wait for the moon to rise.  :-)  We waited and waited.. we had no idea where it would pop up.. but finally I saw a glow over the mountain and sure enough, up popped this gorgeous thing!  The photos I took at this time were orange and not very clear, but later after we were back to the condo, I went out the front door and got this shot, the day after the full moon.

The next morning my darling sister cooked us breakfast of sage sausage, scrambled eggs and crunchy toasted Ciabatta bread with butter and coffee.  What a wonderful hostess!  We visited and enjoyed each other's company and then at noon we headed off towards out next destination, Kahneeta.  Below is a park on the Deschutes River near Warm Springs where we pulled in for a photo.

We stopped at Warm Springs Indian Museum and enjoyed seeing a lot of beaded items, baskets, wonderful videos and such.

A deerskin dress all beaded, baskets, a feather headdress, etc.

I was very taken with this beaded hat.

The museum was quiet and beautiful.

A beautifully beaded baby cradleboard.

An old photo of a young mother and her baby.

The gift shop was great and I coveted that turquoise Pendleton blanket.. 

We drove on 13 miles to Kahneeta and got our suits on and headed out to the pool.  See me by the bear on the left?

Dayle brought his waterproof camera and I took this shot of the deep end of the pool.. I love this!

Here is Dayle going down the big water slide.. :-)

Last time we took the boys here I stood on my hands and my grandson said to the other kids.. "Look at my AMAZING grandma!".  I just love that.

After 3 hours of swimming - I did laps from the middle part of the pool across the deep end several times, breast stroke one way and backstroke on the way back.  Then we showered and got dressed and headed to get some photos of the teepee village near the pool.  

See the last golden light of the day on the hills above the teepees?  

I would love to have a teepee like this in my yard!

Driving over the Warm Springs River that runs by the pool and camping area.  

We went up to the Lodge and I had a roasted chicken with garlic mashed potatoes and a mushroom Bordelaise sauce and it was YUMMY!

And then time to head towards home.  Here is the amazing rock formation that we always pass by and I always have to photograph it!

And then, much to my delight, we came upon a herd of wild Mustang horses!!  We counted at least a dozen in this group.  They roam freely on the Warm Springs Reservation.  You have to be very careful when you drive along in the desert!

Isn't this a beautiful horse?  Quite healthy!

Following behind is a half grown horse.  I love spotted horses.

There was a warm light on the top of Mt. Jefferson - very little snow is left.  But more snow will soon come.

To the right of the road was Mt. Hood.. I was fascinated by the way the cloud was colorful.

My souvenir from the trip is this Pendleton bag which I used today and loved it!  I took it with me to volunteer at Multnomah Falls and it holds everything I need for the day, my camera, glasses, money pouch, pen, etc.  I felt that by buying it I would be supporting the Indian Museum.  Right?

One more amazing story to tell you.  After coming up out of the valley where the Indian town of Simnasho we came around a corner and Dayle yelled "BEARS!"  I brought the car to a stop and right 15 feet in front of us was a pair of Black Bear Cubs!!  They calmly walked across the road, the one in the back stopped and stared at us for a moment and then they scampered into the underbrush.. and what did I say?  CAMERA!!  LOL!  But they were too fast and were gone.  I'm glad their Mama didn't come out to see us!  We sure did have a memorable trip.  Also of interest to me is this is my 701st post!  Our son and his wife are leaving tomorrow for a 4 day beach trip for their anniversary.. so we're going to be taking care of the boys.  This should be interesting!  Have a super weekend!!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)