Going around (the) BEND

Not just figuratively but literally we went round Bend this past weekend. A town/city 3 hours east of Portland where you can see almost all of the tall mountains of Oregon, along the cascades. Especially as on Saturday it was overcast and cloudy, unlike Sunday which was crisp clear and beautiful if not a little on the cold side. Bend is considered to be high desert and it sits on the Deschutes river. It was very picteresque. We had to be out of the house because of having the floors refinished in the kitchen. So we bundled ourselves off to Bend with the kids and the dog, drove up and around Mount Hood through the countryside of Oregon. It was really quite amazing. You don't expect to see such contrast in Oregon, to me it always seems to be lush and wet and green but once you got past the mountains and head east the surroundings changed quite dramatically to a much drier and sparse enviroment.We arrived a little later than planned on Friday afternoon and decided to explore downtown Bend itself and had dinner at The Pine Tavern which was very nice and we lucked out having no reservation we managed to snag a cancellation and got to eat right away. It was an interesting place as part of the restaurant was built around two pine trees that were growing in the middle of the room. The following day we decided to venture to on a cave tour. There I was thinking it would be with stalagmites and the such came with camera in tow only to find out it was a tour of the lava caves under ground and completely dark. Not only was I not dressed for such an adventure, I found it a little daunting being underground in the pitch black with only the lights on the provided helmets to guide us through the caves. Being somewhat caustrophobic I had show no fear or the kids would've have completely freaked out. But they thought it was great and enjoyed it immensely even after a bat whizzed past my ear in the dark. I drew the line on sliding on my belly to get to the another part of the cave and waited with another family while Darren, Owen & Morgan and the guide disappeared into the darkness to continue their exploration. I was very VERY happy when we got back however, to terra firma that was under my feet and not above my head and we got to be outside again. It was definitely an adventure and the guide was extremely informative.

Sunday after a very nice breakfast indeed we headed out to the High Desert Museum, which was also very interesting and the kids really enjoyed going to the old homestead where a couple of ladies (pretending to be) from the 1800 were sitting making candles and stew and doing needlepoint. They also got to check out the sleeping river otter and a bunch of birds of prey before we headed back to rainy old Portland and a very nicely finished floor resplendant with a house full of dust. As nice as this kitchen is going to be I cannot wait until it is finally dust free. THere is a fine layer of dust all over this house and it's a losing battle.Yesterday - Monday, Darren got stuck in putting in the cabinets that arrived friday and today they came to measure for the countertops and the plumbers came by to hook up the dishwasher, sink water to the refridgerator and the waste disposal. YEAH... we still need to pick out tile and finish painting the trim but I finally see a light at the end of the tunnel. Of course Thanksgiving will be a challenge as we are STILL missing pieces from the stove and will not have countertops in until after turkey day... should be very interesting.