Eagle Crest

We had a small family get together in Eagle Crest last weekend.  We met up for dinner Friday night, then got up early with my parents and two of my uncles and headed to Smith Rock for a hike up to Monkey Face.

Monkey Face

We were able to get really close to it.

Check out the climber on the left for scale.  There are over 1500 climbing routes in the park!

We headed to Bend for a few hours for some quick shopping, then back to Eagle Crest for a BBQ at my aunt and uncle's house.

Sunday I got up early and headed toward Sister's to hike Black Butte by myself.  It was smokey, but still great views of all the mountains in the area.  Here are the 3 sisters.

Almost to the top.  There was a fire watch tower at the top, and just a handful of other people thanks to my early start.  1 hour 40 to the top, 45 minutes down.  A great hike I hope to do again with Aaron.

Meanwhile...I had announced at dinner Friday night that Aaron had NEVER ridden a horse!  Knowing that my uncle, who lives in Arizona, had brought his two horses with him.  Well that was an easy fix, Dick was all over it and a Sunday morning ride was quickly arranged.  I would have loved to have gone too, but no horse for me.  Aaron had a great time, they went out for about 2 hours.  Long enough for him to get a little experience.

Aaron riding Blonde

We met back at the house and headed over to the Deschutes County Fair with my parents.  We were all impressed with the size of this fair!  Not only in the fairgrounds - which were large, but with all the entries.  Here is less than half of the canned food that was entered in open class - just the senior section.  We went to the Marion County Fair this year, and this was much more fun with all the participation.

Piglets

Lots of chickens too!  Way more than the State Fair has.  This rooster was a hot mess.

The plan was to stop at Sno Cap on the way home, but the line was to the street, so we passed and settled for gingerbread at the Gingerbread house in Mehama.  Yum!

We had a great weekend!  My least favorite thing about Salem?  Easily the lack of hiking, which is my favorite form of exercise.  It was nice to have the outdoors as our playground for the weekend!