My beloved and I just returned from our long weekend away. We had a great time.
Wednesday night we drove to Hood River, which claims to be the Wind Surfing capital of the world, but to me will always be my old stomping grounds from my fruit tramp days back in the '70's.
THURSDAY - The husband person went fishing, exploring both Lost Lake and Lawrence Lake, while I was in meetings for the American Association of Women in Community Colleges.
He caught some fish, saw signs of bear and generally had a good time. I got to meet with some great women from all across the state and discuss Big Ideas, some which I'm still pondering mightily and may blog on a bit later. That evening we did a bit of geocaching and had a couple really nice finds.
FRIDAY - we went white water rafting near Maupin. It was a blast. We only did class three rapids so there was never anything dangerous or scary - just a fun ride down the river on a beautiful day. Again, at the end we did a geo search, nice end to a long day in the sun. Then we drove on to Redmond for the night.
SATURDAY - we did MORE geocaching, found several and got stumped on a few. Then we went to hear Terri Jentz talk about her book "Strange Piece of Paradise" at the Paulina Springs bookstore. Afterwards we went out to dinner with Terri and a few of the folks from the Bend/Sisters area that she knows. We had a fabulous time getting acquainted and sharing our thoughts about social responsibility, apathy, crime, and reclaiming life after trauma.
SUNDAY - we headed home going the long back way along Hwy 218. We went through lots of tiny little towns like Antelope, Clarno, Fossil, Spray, Heppner, Lexington and Echo. I couldn't help but wonder why people live in some of those spots...what took them there? What holds them? I'd love to go back sometime and interview a few of the locals.
Along the way we stopped at the John Day Fossil Beds and did a nice little hike to see some intriguing geology.
Then we stopped along the John Day River for a picnic lunch. Larry did some fishing (mostly caught TINY small mouth bass that looked like bait, but I guess it was fun for him) and I got to lay under a ponderosa pine tree reading a good book. Finally it was time to call it a day and head on home.
All in all it was a really good trip.
3 comments:
It sounds awesome!
Wow, sounds like you had such a blast! Makes me want to go back on vacation for the second time this year! *sigh*
Yes, I am a firm believer in quality vacation time!
We plan to take a week off in August to go to Michigan to visit our kids and grandkids. While I look forward to that visit, I do not expect it to be a restful vacation. My younger son has seven children between ages three and thirteen. Then my older son has a two year old that is full of spunk and energy. Love 'em to pieces but they can wear me out! So it felt good to have a few days of calm, reflective, relaxing getaway to totally recharge the batteries.
The Italy trip we had planned for October is on hold for now...may do it another time.
So instead, I'll celebrate my birthday by going up in a hot air balloon and then coming down to get a pie in the face. We plan to take three or four days at that time to do SOMETHING yet to be defined.
Then in November for our anniversary we plan to go to Carmen del Playa, Mexico to spend some time on the beach and explore mayan ruins.
Long vacations can be great, but I find taking several short jaunts does more to rejuvenate me without creating huge piles back at work for when I return.
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