Big Blue Pool and Celebrating Father's Day

On Friday we headed around Mt. Hood to Kahneeta - it's a wonderful hot springs pool on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.  We drive from Corbett to Sandy and up over the side of the mountain to the high desert beyond, take a left and travel through the tumbleweeds with expansive views - this is Mt. Jefferson to the south.  Our son, DIL and two grandsons drove ahead and went to the alpine slides on Mt. Hood - and met us at the pool.

A bit of a zoom.  Mt. Hood is to the right.. but we were too busy trying to get to the pool and didn't take as many photos as usual.  

I snapped a few photos before we took the plunge.. the water was perfect, warm but not too warm.. the boys got to go down the big slides this time.  Actually, my very first blog post was about our trip to Kahneeta - 5 years ago!

There is a shallow end that is safe for the kids - a middle part that adults can stand up in - and a deep end where I like to swim.  I love looking at the mountains around the pool while I swim.

They have three bears in the middle, each holding a salmon which shoots a stream of water into the pool.  It's so fun to stand under the water and have it hit you on the head.  :-)  

Kristi took a photo of us and the boys with my camera. :-)  We swam for 3 hours and all had a great time.

I asked the lifeguard to recommend a place for dinner and he told me that "Eagle Crossing" in Warm Springs was a good family place, so after we all showered and dressed we headed there across the desert and down into Warm Springs.  Dayle had breakfast and I snapped a photo of it.  Can you believe the size of that slice of ham?  I had chicken fried steak but forgot to snap a photo.  We were all pleased with our meals and will be going back again.

Then we headed back over Mt. Hood.. this was our first peek of the mountain.

Around each corner I would go.. OH OH.. wow.. and pull over and snap a shot.

Then around the last corner there was an area to park and I snapped this wonderful image of the mountain.  This was the last opportunity for a photo before we were around and headed away from it.  As you can tell we don't have a very good snow pack this year.. the streams will be running slowly this summer.

When we drove through Sandy I took the road to Jonsrud Point to see if there was still some alpenglow on the mountain.. and we got the last rays of the day painting the mountain a lovely pink.  Isn't it interesting how different the mountain looks from different sides?

Goodnight my mountain.. and we drove over hill and dale and through the countryside and got home at dusk.  A good day.

We awoke yesterday to Father's Day.  We enjoyed our day, I made Dayle some egg salad sandwiches for lunch and we just took it easy.  The Streptocarpella that I got has put out lots of new flowers!  It's got a fuzzy leaf and is a relative of the African Violet.

All of the geraniums that Dayle wintered over in the basement are flowering out beautifully.  Have you tried wintering them over?  It's a great way to not have to buy new ones and they get bigger each year!

Kristi has done a great job of keeping the plants watered on the deck and everything is looking lush and with lots of flowers.

My beloved Lantana.. I love watching these bud out and bloom as they change colors all through the process.

The weather lately has been so warm and pleasant and the forecast is for another week of sunny warm weather.  I love enjoying the birdsong on the deck and watching the koi swim in the pond.

This is our third summer of keeping this Bolivian Begonia going and this year it's getting HUGE.

The sounds of the waterfall also are like music in the garden.

Soon the Astilbe will be fluffy and pretty.

Buddy lays by the pond and watches the koi swim about intently.. then he barks at them.. aren't we lucky to have him protect us from the fish?  

Kind of looks jungle-y, huh?

The Goldfinches are enjoying the thistle sock.

This plant is called "Sweet Tea Heucherella".  

Japanese Painted Fern.. it comes back every year.

Autumn fern.. it comes out orange tipped which is pretty.

I got a new tablecloth.. good ol' Amazon.  I think I need to go through my tablecloths and donate some of the old ones.  

One branch of the Hydrangea makes a bouquet for the table!  I also brought out my crocheted stones.  Have you tried doing this?  It's fun, inexpensive and makes a great paperweight or gift.  

Dayle did some tractoring.. there were some weeds going to seed in the back of the garden and he used the brush hog on the tractor to make short work of them.  

Last summer I crocheted this string of rainbow colored bunting so I asked my son to help me hang them up on the gazebo, so festive!

We had to call Dayle in from the tractor to get showered so we could all go out to Chinese dinner to celebrate Father's Day.. it was a great day.  How was your weekend?  Soon I will meet the printer at the Friends of Multnomah Falls storage unit to unload 50,000 new brochures that I worked a LONG time on - having it updated - new colors and I edited it long and hard.  I hope it turned out good!  ((hugs)), Teresa :-)