Mini Vacation

Our Little Vacation

Last week we took a mini vacation from the rig, the park and Portland to celebrate our 17th anniversary and Donna's 65th birthday (same day). We went to Bend, OR, and stayed for two nights at a very nice B & B (Juniper Acres) and saw some of central southern Oregon. Our B & B was a beautiful log house out in the country and it had all the comforts of home including wonderful breakfasts and homemade cookies waiting in our room. Our hostess was very friendly and regaled us with stories about her life as a B & B owner and also listened to a few of Tom's stories about being a park host. Some of those stories seemed very similar. While there we met with John and Janie Dean who we know through the Excel forum and had drinks and fun conversation at a nice place called the Alehouse. It felt like we had been friends all along. Tom was surprised to find a Early Ford Car Show in Redmond, OR that he happily attended. They had Fords from 1932 to 1954 and although he's not a Ford guy, he really enjoyed checking out the 300 beautiful restored cars and visiting with their proud owners. There was a forest fire in the area near Sisters (a small town north of Bend), but it didn't deter our travels at all. We did see and smell smoke some of the time but it wasn't bad. We made a short stop at the Stitching Post Quilt and Yarn Shop, but because Donna had committed to use more of her yarn she has on hand before buying more, we left after only a few minutes. The tempation was just too much! We saw some pretty country, one deer and lots of horses and cattle. It was peaceful and refreshing. We returned home rested and looking forward to our next journey south to see our granddaughter and family in early October. From there we'll go to Reno for a few days to visit our good friends Paul and Mary Wells and then down to Hemet for the winter months. Summer in Portland has gone entirely too fast and fall is definitely in the air now.