Turkish Delights

Guess what? We actually went somewhere, away from home, outside of Portland, for the weekend! Can you believe it? My folks found this awesome place in Bend, Oregon (about 3 1/2 hours Southeast of here in Central Oregon) and we had a really fun, big, family getaway three-day-weekend with everyone...my parents, brother, and Nicole included. We had our own little four bedroom cottage (the Nunnery) with a lovely patio mere stepping stones from two roaring fire-pits and this cute, cozy pub. And if you haven't clicked on any of these links, please click on this one. I could have spent the entire time in this place, which became even cooler once we realized that the skylight isn't a skylight at all, but really a giganntic open ceiling. When it snows in Bend, it snows inside the Turkish Bath. Dude.

We spent hours scrambling all over this really awesome museum on Saturday. And oh, I am such a sucker for living history, most especially the pioneer Little House on the Prairie variety. It was really pretty quiet, crowd-wise for a Saturday and the museum has a huge outdoor component with a Birds of Prey aviary and an Otter Exhibit. After exploring the different pathways we came out of some trees and stumbled onto this most amazing scene.

They were eating and talking and singing with intermittent bursts of hearty belly laughter. They teased me and called me a "Portland city-slicker" when I asked them what they were having for lunch (chicken stew on tin plates with wooden utensils), as these pioneers eat breakfast, dinner, and supper. They chided Eric for wearing shorts, because without proper leg coverage he could get injured, and then what use would he be? How could he provide for his family? And the boys (of course) were mystified by the guns and the "belt-o-bullets." And I swear that's Nellie Olsen sitting there at the dinner table, hair bow and all. It was awesome. If only Mr. Edwards had come tromping out from the trees with pennies and candy sticks, my Little House fantasty would have been complete!