Last ride before the storm!

Today was just gorgeous outside. 79 degrees, not a cloud in the sky. Tomorrow is supposed to be 52 degrees and rainy. Central Oregon weather is just SO changeable. So of course I had to get out into it! Barrie and I did a 2.5 hour ride. We went up Kent's, down Voodoo then Grand Slam and back to the trailhead. Maybe it should only have taken us 2 hours...but man, that trail KICKED MY ASS today! :) I psyched myself out on one section...and you know how it goes after you've psyched yourself out once...it just gets worse! I was just feeling a bit shaky and tired, so I knew I'd be sloppy. And I cannot afford to hurt myself badly before Mexico.

I had heard about the metal bike sculpture, but hadn't seen it. Well, here it is with Barrie in front. It's super cool!

Last night when I was driving home there was the most amazing moon. This picture doesn't do it justice in the least. Brilliant moon, clear sky with tinges of red...fabulous.

Maybe it was cause of the full moon that the raccoons were so weird last night! About 11:00 I hear this scrabbling on my porch and Dread comes flying in off the porch growling like crazy. So I close the door...and all of a sudden there are two raccoons. They definitely tried to get in! Sheesh. Makes me think that maybe I'll have to leave even the upper porch closed when I'm away. Poor kitties, no fresh air.

Tumalo Falls

I love the Tumalo Falls loop. Julie and I did it today, took us about 3.5 hours for 6.8 miles. A bit slow...but ok for where I'm at physically at this point. It's SUCH a gorgeous hike that I have no problem taking it slow. There's the big waterfall down at the trailhead that everyone sees. But as you go up the trail it's just one waterfall after another. I think this is my favourite.
Here I am in front of a waterfall...it's just a different angle than the picture above. It's funny, when a hike goes uphill I always think of the "peak" as the half-way point of the hike. Well, on this trail it's definitely not! :) Only about 3/4 of the way around does it start to go downhill.
Funny, but I didn't really take any from that side! So here's one of Julie at one of the falls on the way up. It was nice enough for short sleeves, but just not quite warm enough to unzip the convertible pants.
Living in Central Oregon ROCKS! I can go hiking, then see this in my front "yard"
I did a mini pre-pack for Mexico. One month and one week and then I'll be off! :) I'm excited. I wanted to make sure that had purchased the correct size duffel bag. I did.

First horseback rides...

Kai had his first horsie ride! :) And of course I love this picture, seeing how much horses were a part of my life. He's SOOOOOO cute!!!
I think this was my first ride. That's my mom holding me and my maternal grandfather leading the horse. My grandparent's owned a farm, but sold it by the time I was...about 5 or 6? I have a ton of pictures from that time...kittens and me on a bench, playing 3 Billy Goats Gruff with my dad and brother in the barn, picking vegetables, and my favourite, being read to by my grandma in the garden. I don't remember the farm at all...but I know they had one! :)

This one probably doesn't count, does it? Know what I learned the other day? Carousels have a variety of animals/characters to sit on, a merry-go-round has only horses. I loved horses from as early as I can remember.
Maybe Kai will grow up to be like his Auntie Chan and be a rider. It all starts with one ride and the next thing you know you're here:

I've probably said this before...but it's SO odd that none of my current friends here know me as a rider. It's such a HUGE part of who I am, but most people don't know that. If you don't believe me, check out my Growing Up gallery....LOTS of horses there! :)

First real hike!

Yesterday I went on my first real hike since my surgery. Colleen's friend Sandy was going up South Sisters, but neither Colleen nor I wanted to go that far, so we just went from the Devil's Lake trail head to Moraine Lake, around the lake and back. Turned out to be a gorgeous day. But I have to say that I MUCH prefer the route from Green Lakes trail head! The Devil's Lake route is way steeper!!!! The other may add a mile or two, but it's worth it. And I definitely still have major leg issues! :( My shins were fine, but my calves...whooboy. When I get back from Mexico it's back to Dr Smith. If I need more compartments released I'll do them this winter, so I'm not off for another whole summer!!! Anyway, here's our first look at South Sisters. Colleen is over there on the side having a sit-me-down.
Here I am going down to Moraine Lake. It was so beautiful!
See! :) It was supposed to rain this weekend, but it only sprinkled a little bit on Friday night. The trails might have been slightly better after rain..but all in all it was good.

On our way down Colleen and I were just chatting chatting chatting away when all of a sudden we both stop and realize we've lost the trail!!! Well....ahem....we turned around...and low and behold there's the trail! It was a switchback that we walked right off of. Hee hee hee.

By the time we got down my legs were killing me. Not my shins, but my knees and hips. It had nothing to do with my leg issues, but the usual pain with downhills. I was SO sore Saturday evening. I hobbled to the bath and that's about all the activity I managed! On top of it I knew that I had a big (well, big for ME at the moment) mountain bike ride Sunday morning.

Sunday morning the Bella conversational ride was going to carpool to Swampy and ride to Bend. I love that ride, but I wasn't sure I'd be able to. I did though, and it was fun. Here's the group at the Swede Ridge shelter.

So now I have less than a month and a half to get myself back into shape and able to hike. I really shouldn't be biking anymore, and be hiking every spare moment!!!! :) :) :)

Weekend in Vancouver

Wow, it was a truly gorgeous weekend in Vancouver. Clear blue skies for the four days I was there, temperatures in the 80's...just fabulous! Here's the view from my bedroom at about 6 am, out to the ocean and then to downtown. I grew up with an amazing view.

When I got there some of my extended family was there for my dad's birthday party. His birthday was Sept 3, but this was when everyone could get together. I was really happy to be able to be there for a little bit of it anyway!

One of the reasons I went up was to take my mom her new bike. When they were down here a couple weekends ago we went to a bunch of bike shops to get her a "comfort" bike. It finally came in, so I brought it up. She hasn't ridden a bike in almost 20 years! Well, except for a bike ride earlier this summer in Holland. That really WAS her first ride in 20 years...and it was a 27 mile ride...and she panicked, forgot how to break and hit a tree! Hee hee.

This ride went much better. Dad and I took her down to the high school and we rode around for a while. I gave her some pointers and taught her how to properly stop, turn, change gears etc. She did really well. When we were trying to leave this area she freaked out and jumped off the bike. She'd been heading for a fence and evidently AGAIN forgot how to break! Sigh. That one she's going to have to learn fast. We spent an hour or two just fiddling around on the bikes. It was a lot of fun, and I'm really excited that mom and dad have this new fun thing to do together.
Sunday I went to Randal and Jen's for a block party they were having, and to spend some time with Kai. You;ll have to check my Flickr gallery for those pictures. There was a pinata...but no one got hurt! :)

Last week I was sitting on the couch and Dread jumped up onto my lap. He stood there on my legs for a minute or two, then hopped off. I looked down and this is what I saw. He's lost a lot of weight in the last 5-6 months...but he's still a big boy. I'm worried that he's "winding down."

Madeline L'Engle

Madeline L'Engle, the author of the Wrinkle in Time books died. So sad. Well, not really....she was 88. I loved that series.

Camping Labor Day weekend, off to Vancouver this weekend

Wow, I have not been a good updater! :) It's been a crazy busy couple weeks. After the High Desert Omnium I think I was so busy working on results I just didn't want to spend more time online!!!!

This last weekend, the long weekend, I lead a Bella ride on the Black Rock Trail, went to a friend's housewarming party, then headed out to join the Grier's and some others where they were camping up near Davis Creek. It was beautiful. It wasn't developed camping, so that means there was no one else anywhere near us!

Here's Clyde...one of the MANY dogs with us, sitting looking at Davis Creek. The water was just beyond our campsite, down a sandy hill. Unfortunately the sides of the creek were rather... icky. Smelly algae. The water was clear enough, but to get into it you had to go through the yucky stuff...and getting out too! :)

So, Sunday we decided to spend the day at Crescent Lake. Man, it was just beautiful!!! WE found a deserted day use area and set ourselves and six dogs smack dab in the middle. Hee hee. I don't know where all the people were for the long weekend, but they weren't up at gorgeous Crescent Lake. The water looked like the water off Belize it was so blue and clear. And warm. Here's Sheila testing the water.

And here are Sheila and I floating in the water. We spent quite a bit of time out there, then Sheila went in and brought me a beer, and I continued floating all by myself. I could have stayed out there a lot longer...but I'd finished my beer and I was getting lonely! :) I did however burn my chest pretty good. I was wearing sunscreen, but I didn't reapply enough, obviously.

Here's our site that day. See...completely empty except for us. Chris is there on the left learning how to kite sail. That's Brandy in the front with Max the bear looking out at the water. Well, Max isn't a real bear, he's a huge black Newfoundland. So sweet!!!! And then all our crap behind them. It was really windy, so they played with the kite and also tried some windsurfing.

Finally we headed back to camp when we were good and hungry. It got a little cold...but not enough to put on full pants...but not warm enough to keep the shorts on. So Sheila and I came up with our own solution....Capri's with socks pulled up. Here's Sheila in all her glory:

Here we are at the campfire after dinner.

Then we all headed home on Monday. It was early afternoon by we got back and yup my chest was on FIRE. I won't post the picture of that! :) This weekend I'm headed off to Vancouver to spend some time with my family.

I also realized that I only have two months until the Mexico trek....I need to start hiking! :)