Oregon Trip: Part III (Sunriver & Bend)

Back to wrap up the final installment from our Oregon trip! After we parted ways with our friends near Hood River for cherry picking, we hit the road for the ~3hr drive to Bend. It was such a beautiful drive - it made the time pass very quickly (especially when the kids were sleeping!)

Joe and I both involuntarily gasped when we rounded a corner in the midst of all the beautiful tall pine trees and saw the majestic peak of Mt Hood rise in the distance! It was snow covered even in the summer.

Mt Hood on our drive!

We then left the forested area of Oregon and traversed into the mountainous and desert landscape, which was also beautiful.

We had enough time to stop at the grocery store when we got closer to Bend to pick up food for the remaining few days and checked into our rental in Sunriver! Sunriver is a mountain resort about 15min outside of Bend. We booked our rental through Homeaway and it came with family passes to the large pool area, which we definitely took advantage of! The rental was huge with 4 bedrooms and an outdoor hot tub!

The kids of course loved having their own rooms and the "cool couch" that allowed them to each lay down with their own drink holders :)

Kids on their favorite couch in the rental

The rental had a very cabin feel to it with wood throughout, which was nice in the mountains. It even had a toddler bed (that Emmy still managed to fall out of twice!) Also, air conditioning is a rarity in the PNW, but I had the foresight to book only places that had it (before I even knew we were going to visit during record-breaking heat wave) so we were very glad to have it!

Emmy had the perfect sleeping spot!

Everyone was exhausted from the day, so we had a low-key dinner at home, put the kids to bed and Joe and I relaxed in the hot tub with some local beers.

The next morning we were up and ready to explore Bend! I have friends in Bend (former hockey teammate from NC) and they highly recommended the Victoria Cafe for breakfast and it was amazing! One of the best meals of the trip.

Happy kids with their chocolate milks and coloring

Emmy loved the delicious fresh fruit and toast

Nolan was delighted with the mickey shaped chocolate chip pancakes served to him!

these "imagine ink" books were a lifesaver the entire trip! The kids loved them!

After breakfast, we walked around downtown Bend. Right in the middle of Bend is Drake Park, which surrounds Mirror Pond. The kids loved running around and it was very beautiful.

Those are some big trees! People for scale

The town felt very "outdoorsy" with lots of activities going on

Emmy was getting exhausted and ready to nap, so we headed back to the rental for a few hours, had a light lunch and went out to check out the Sunriver pool in the early afternoon.

maybe next time kids!

Plenty to do without the slide!

The pool complex was awesome! Such a pretty backdrop with the trees and mountains and there were several different areas for the kids. Emmy loved playing in the "beach" sand area near the baby pool and Nolan loved practicing his swim moves he's been learning in swim class in the shallow pool with Daddy. Everyone loved it and didn't want to leave!

We dragged the kids out of there because we had to clean up and head back into Bend to have dinner with our friends Amy and Summer at their house. They have 5 kids and the youngest are twins that are really close to Nolan's age so the kids had a blast. I really enjoyed catching up with them as we hadn't seen them since we lived in NC over 6 years ago. Apparently I was having so much fun catching up that I neglected to take any photos, but Amy did snag a couple that I'm trying to hunt down.

The next day, we headed over to the nearby High Desert Museum, which several friends had recommended to us. It was bigger than we anticipated, and a lot of fun, but also exhausting as the majority of it is outside and it was hot (and I of course had to carry Emmy everywhere!)

We started off at the museum going to a show on reptile. The kids got to pet a blue-tongued skink!

We had to take pics at the "what's your wingspan" chart since that's what Henry Thomas does every year as a tradition :) Nolan was a Turkey Vulture and Emmy was a Gyrfalcon

There was a large "colonial area" that had reenactors demonstrating various things such as farming, teaching, recreation, etc. The kids pumped water the old fashioned way to water the plants and wrote on slate boards in the one room schoolhouse.

Nice work Joe!

I love birch trees!

We saw lots of desert creatures there!

There was even a desert-themed play area that the kids loved!

The highlight of the trip was seeing the bobcat!

After the museum everyone was hungry for lunch! We hit up 10 Barrel Brewing Company in Bend which hit the spot. There are so many great breweries and restaurants in Bend!

Happy Place

Na Zdorovie!

Happy kids with their brand new desert birds - Hawky and Eagey

After lunch, we headed back to Sunriver for another round of pool time! It was tempting to just stay home and do something low-key for dinner after a busy few days, but I pushed to check out this one cool place we had driven by earlier - Crux Fermentation Project - and wow am I glad we went. This was easily the highlight of the entire trip. This place was amazing - great atmosphere, perfect weather in the evening (no bugs!) and the most BEAUTIFUL view of the sun setting on the mountains. It doesn't get much better than this. A perfect way to end our time in Bend.

Crux has an indoor section, but the outdoor was where it was at. Music was playing, there was an outdoor bar, and there were food trailers all around the perimeter. Kids were running and playing everywhere and there were tons of lawn games and even a giant chalkboard to entertain them. The best thing that happened was as soon as the kids finished their pizza other kids ran up to them and asked them to play and they entertained themselves the entire time!! Meanwhile Joe and I could sit back, enjoy the sunset and our beers, all the while watching them play. It really was perfect.

Nolan playing with his new friend Olivia (he still talks about her!)

Emmy telling Nolan and Olivia "One more time" through the sprinklers!

Giant chalk board

Yes please.

loving it

Eagey even came for dinner!

best night ever

View from our table

Sunset in a glass

The next morning we got up, checked out of our rental and went back to Bend one more time to walk around and have lunch before heading back to Portland.

We had to squeeze one more brewery in our trip ;) so we hit up Bend Brewing Company. It was a great kid-friendly spot for lunch.

My nugget with a fry in her mouth ;)

After lunch the kids were exhausted and passed out for the ride back to Portland. We stayed at a hotel right next to the airport since our return flight was super early in the morning. We had dinner at a cute place in Portland that was somewhat spoiled when Emmy threw up during the meal (luckily we were sitting outside). We gave the waiter a big tip... never a dull moment!

Ride back to Portland

The kids had a great return flight with both napping and being happy for most of the trip. I'm hoping traveling will just get easier from here on out as the kids get older.

Thanks Air Alaska!

This was a really wonderful trip and I'm so glad we had friends to stay with to make it even better. We fell in love with the pacific northwest, particularly Bend, and know we'll be back soon. 

Nolan's new Batman Bend shirt ;) Perfect find!