Can you believe I grew up in Oregon and never once spent a vacation (or even went to) Sunriver? Maybe. I don't actually know how common Sunriver vacations are in the general Oregonian population. I only know that as a youth, it seemed like all my friends spent a week there during summers. Our family never did. We tended to go on vacation to visit both sets of grandparents in California, or just go camping near the coast. Central Oregon was not in my vacation vocabulary.
But guess what? This summer, for the first time ever, the Walkers went on vacation to Sunriver. We just got back today. I feel like a real person now. But I also feel a little strange. Like going to Sunriver was this language I was supposed to learn growing up and it's kind of difficult to pick up now, at the age of 30. I think we figured out the routine well enough in our week there, and we enjoyed it so much that I hope we'll have a chance to put our Sunriver skills to use in a future trip there.
On offer:
Hiking to the top of nearby Mt. Tumalo, a plan which was downgraded from climbing South Sister, and then downgraded again from climbing Mt. Bachelor. Sometimes you have to adjust your expectations to fit the reality of limited time and small children.
Swimming at the SHARC pools. I say pools, because there are several.
Hiking through some lava tubes. Didn't get a picture of that, sorry. Possibly because it was pitch black? Also possibly because the entire hike back I had to talk Miriam down from the ledge of having to pee SO BAD. It was like a hostage negotiation. Don't worry, we made it out without any accidents.
Lots of bike riding, both within the Sunriver community and without. There was one particularly epic bike ride whose distance and difficulty was increased tenfold because of a few key wrong turns right off the bat, both outbound and inbound. And I now have a testimony of ride-along bikes (pictured above, without Miriam, which speaks to my constant fear that I was going to someday take off riding without making sure she was on her part of the bike).
Playing at Elk Lake. The fun began once Jeremy, my brother Blair, and my SIL Emily showed up with a canoe, a kayak, and a stand-up paddleboard.
The most amazing part was that the entire Walker family was there. The last time we were all together was possibly as "recently" as Christmas 2009, but we're not sure.
Hooray for Sunriver!
But guess what? This summer, for the first time ever, the Walkers went on vacation to Sunriver. We just got back today. I feel like a real person now. But I also feel a little strange. Like going to Sunriver was this language I was supposed to learn growing up and it's kind of difficult to pick up now, at the age of 30. I think we figured out the routine well enough in our week there, and we enjoyed it so much that I hope we'll have a chance to put our Sunriver skills to use in a future trip there.
On offer:
Hiking through some lava tubes. Didn't get a picture of that, sorry. Possibly because it was pitch black? Also possibly because the entire hike back I had to talk Miriam down from the ledge of having to pee SO BAD. It was like a hostage negotiation. Don't worry, we made it out without any accidents.
The most amazing part was that the entire Walker family was there. The last time we were all together was possibly as "recently" as Christmas 2009, but we're not sure.
Hooray for Sunriver!