A warm, but not hot day for early July so we decided to try a water hole in the desert called Alder Springs deep in a desert Canyon. north of Bend. It was a rough drive in and very desert dry at the parking lot so we weren't sure what to expect. We hiked in and down into the Canyon for a couple miles and found this beautiful hidden spot on the creek where we swam and played for the afternoon.
The hike into the Canyon
Swimming and playing in the creek
Noah has wanted a sleep over ever since I can remember. We decided to be brave and let him have a few friends over for the night. The boys came over and had pizza, swam, biked, watched a movie on the deck and ended the night sleeping out on the trampoline. Noah said it was he best birthday. It was a great night and everyone had fun.
PJ and Abbie were the first two to brave its fresh cold water although they are staying on top of the floaties.
Wet Spring producing wildflowers
While staying at Black Butte this weekend, we did a half day exploration close by to visit Wizard Falls fish hatchery with Lunch in the hamlet of Camp Sherman. The fish hatchery was really fun - Felt like something out of the 1960's. While there we did a short hike along the Metolius River. The river here is amazingly blue, as its only a couple of miles from its source.
We kicked off Summer Vacation 2019 with a Weekend trip to Black Butte. One of our favorite places close to home. 69/70 degrees with sun and cool evenings. We did some swimming, biking and exploring. Our first evening - we celebrated the summer solstice with dinner at the main pool.
Some pictures from the rest of the weekend.
We are celebrating the first day and first official weekend of summer in Black Butte Ranch, Oregon
Fun day to celebrate being out for summer holidays and Holly’s first lake day (Suttle Lake)
Abbie had a dance competition in Portland. Normally Kelly takes Abbie to her competitions but I went this weekend, and we had a great time not only at the competition winning some medals but also doing some explorations. We were near the Portland airport but instead of heading into the city, we decided to see what was the other direction so went to the little town of Troutdale just east of Portland and then spent the rest of the day at McMennamins Edgefield.
