Yes, our trip to the foothills around Bend (Tumalo Falls to be exact) was quite fun. Not a lot of snow which was disappointing at first, but we had nice clear sunny days and cloudless star filled nights. The cabin was situated down in a little "holler" by a bend in Tumalo Creek. From this base camp we made short excursions to the ice skating rink (outdoor, uncovered), to lunch at the Alpenglow Café' (very good, down home chow, everything, including ice cream and various breads house made - we will go back again.), and to the snow park up the road which had just enough hard packed icy snow to make sledding both fun and quite challenging. I think the adults ended up having more fun than the kids.
Sledding is the one main thing I miss about being somewhere with lots of snow in the winter. Plus, it was nice to be sledding on a very sunny , no wind day, as we ended up shedding many layers of outerwear after a few times climbing up the rather large hill. All the huffing and puffing was worth it when you went shooting down the mountain with the wind in your hair and laughter in your ear. The look on HB's face on the way down was pure joy mixed with fear, but the giggles just would not stop. I think my friend Ms. B. was able to take some good footage of us with the video camera, but I have not had a chance to watch it yet to find out.
Had much fun cooking and eating, of course. First night we had a fine three bean veggie chili that kicked ass even though I forgot to add the fresh cilantro to it just prior to serving. Chili is a memory filled tradition in my family. It was the usual choice to warm us and our friends up after a long day of winter fun - usually XC skiing - when I was growing up. As is tradition, I served it up with some "Jiffy" corn bread. (sorry, but you can't beat the Jiffy...its the LARD...no, really!)
For breakfast, our guests served up some righteous whole grain french toast and real maple syrup and thick cut organic bacon. (there's nothing better than that salty, smokey taste of bacon mingled with the sweetness of maple syrup...mmm-mmm). Perfect fuel for a day of ice sledding! Truly a thrill a minute. That night we all relaxed around the wood fire, bellies full of campanelli with spinach-feta chicken sausage and vegetable melange and fine red wine, but not before leading the kids in a dance around the communal table to songs from Pink Floyd's early masterpiece "Piper at the Gates of Dawn". "Bike", one of Syd Barrett's best and most fun songs, and "Gnome" are perfect tunes to get kids enthused and dancing...quite wimsical, as Syd tended to be. Good Times.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment