Weekend Getaway....

A few months ago I had made reservations for a weekend getaway...27th anniversary. This all came about when in down-time-chatting mode at work someone had mentioned that Belknap Hotsprings was a nice place to go. How this came up in the conversation is that I was wanting to have several jaunts this year to places close to home....embrace what Oregon has to offer.

So...off we go....an hour down the road I realized I had forgotten my camera...DRAT!! Well...that's not exactly what I said but you get the picture..:) Oregon sunshine, better known as RAIN, was with us for the whole 3 hours of our drive....GREAT. We found our way there without a hitch, enjoying the scenery along the McKenzie River. The usual day-dreaming took place when we noticed how many properties were For Sale, even in the steady rain it was easy to see what a beautiful valley this was. (located 1 hour east of Eugene)

Belknap Hotsprings isn't a really large establishment, very quaint. They've been around since 1928 with a few minor changes here and there. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, other than the pictures I had seen from their website..... Poor Randy had a bit of a shock when he realized there was no telephone, no TV, no internet.....ha, ha....I was loving it!! So what's the first thing we did after eating and checking into our room....take a nap! The first evening was a glorious 2 hours of hanging out in the hotsprings, with a cool night mist and listening to the river rush by....very nice.

The next morning we ventured out for a quick breakfast and to take a nice little hike. Still drizzling a bit, but a few blue patches beginning to show. They've created some nice walking paths and hidden gardens which we took full advantage of. There were few people out and about so we had it all to ourselves, for the most part. This is where I was so disappointed to not have my digital camera with me....FLOWERS everywhere. Any pictures you see posted here are from Google Images...but the place looks exactly like this!

We decided to take a 45 minute drive into Sisters for a late lunch. Thoroughly enjoyed dining at one of the local mexican restuarants. Very tasty salsa...yum. Sisters is a quaint little vacation town...for all you Canadians it's like a miniture Banff. Great shops, quilting, art gallery, local arts...The Antler Shop...ha.., bookstores, some very good dining and a couple ice cream shops...which we of course sampled...:)

Back at the lodge it was a carbon copy of the evening before...nap....hotsprings....but the night was clear and star-filled. I really need to get me a hotsprings!! Maybe if I win the lottery?

Sunday was a GLORIOUS day....we were up early,breakfast and out the door....we could hear golf calling our names at the Tokatee. A more beautiful course there just couldn't be!! Snow capped mountains, birds, flowers and wildlife....and a halfway decent golf game for me! I haven't picked up a club in almost 2 years but you wouldn't have known it by the score...I did pretty good.

Sometimes it's a good thing to just get away for a couple days....kind of re-energizes the batteries.

Siblings....

I posted this on another persons blog, but as I read it I felt I really needed to post it on my own blog.....here's to you my brother and sisters......

My life growing up was maybe a little off-kilter. My brother is 4 years older than me, while my younger sisters are 11 and 12 years younger than me. While I was a middle child, I grew up more as an only child for many years. My best friends were my pets (horses, cats, dogs, sheep, goats..etc) due to living in a very rural setting in my early years. Can we say ‘someone’ had a very vivid imagination?!

My brother and I, as kids, had our moments of camaraderie, but they were fleeting. I have to admit he was a great older brother and was very protective of me…..and bossy. You have to admit, who wants a runty little tag-a-long sister when you’re playing with all your buddies, but when I wrapped that kite string around my arm he was there to get it off before my arm turned purple! He was the one who told me to buck up when I was 12 and broke my leg on the ski slope….I think he was more afraid of it being broken than I was! Ron was the one who ‘tried’ to teach me how to dance and knew how my hair looked the best on me. I went for many years not having him in my life because he was lost in his own world. One of the last fights we had was when I was 15 and whatever the fight was about I remember taking a great big swing at him AND connecting…thank-you my brother for not reciprocating!! In more recent years it has been a real pleasure to reconnect with my brother and getting to know him again. Amazingly, we have an awful lot in common.

My sisters were much later coming into my life…I was a tween-ager when they were born 15 months apart. It was pretty cool at first to have these two mischievous babies running around, but in the life of a teenager it became a real pain once the advantages of a live-in babysitter became apparent. Shana and Casey were barely into school for a few years by the time I married and moved 1000 miles away. Who knew they would come and live with Randy and I for a couple of years…but they did, and that is when I truly got to know my sisters as people, rather than just a couple of pesky little runts. We’ve had many laughs that a sister…6-months pregnant…. still had the chutzpah to chase them down in the snow and rub their faces in it or chase them up the stairs when they thought it was okay to lip off. They moved back home when my first child was born and it would be another few more years before I would connect with them again. Now as they have grown into adulthood and have had children of their own, it has become easier to have common ground and experiences with them. Our family gatherings have become so much fun…more than I could have hoped for.

As we get older I think we’ve come to value having our families more and more. We are all so different….but family.

authorblog: Weekend Wandering

Forgive and Forget....

I think this is something I've done all my life. I have a hard time holding a grudge and life is too short to let those sort of emotions rule you.

Forgiving is easy....just allow yourself to do that...and let it go. For your own well-being.

Forgetting is hard....maybe the word should be "learn". Knowledge of why something happened is a powerful tool.


authorblog: Weekend Wandering