Shane and I returned this afternoon from a weekend down at my parents’ house in LaPine, Oregon (25 miles south of Bend), and though the 6-hour drive was long, the trip was well worth it. Some of our best times down there are when we just hang around the house – Shane and my dad will engage in a die-hard ping-pong match while my mom and I contentedly knit together on the couch – but it’s also fun to get out and do some exploring. Friday was nature day, as we drove over to Falls River and did some wandering along the riverbank. I snapped photos, Shane skipped rocks, and we all did what we could to soak in every last drop of the quickly-vanishing summer.
Saturday we sacrificed a walk in the woods for a stroll through the posh streets of Bend. I am becoming quite taken with this town: lots of wonderful little cafes and restaurants, a beautiful park that borders the Deschutes River, and several of those want-inducing, but all-too-expensive, trendy boutiques. We spent some time wine-tasting at a cozy Italian restaurant and then walked through the park along the water, stopping to admire the beautiful homes that border the river. I have a feeling that Bend will be even bigger next time we visit – hopefully it continues to climb the cool-factor charts as well…
Last night we enjoyed a quiet evening at the house, reading, knitting, ping-ponging. I convinced my dad to build a fire in the wood-burning stove (whether or not it was really cold enough for a fire was debatable, but he humored me nonetheless), and I found such pleasure in just lounging around with my family.
It was hard to leave after only two days there, but such is the life of a working couple, I suppose…