spring break in Bend

We left Portland on Sunday morning to spend spring break in Bend. Central Oregon has had a very snowy winter (many feet of late-season snowfall) and so there's snow everywhere -- a little bit of a change from previous spring vacations in Bend/Redmond, when it was 70 and sunny. The drive was straightforward and we arrived in time for lunch and a walk around downtown Drake Park in Bend.

After that, we drove to the east side of Bend to Pilot Butte, to walk up to the top of that cinder cone volcano. It was a clear day and the views of surrounding mountains were outstanding - Bachelor, the three Sisters, Broken Top, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Hood.

And then we checked into our rental house, a sweet little spot just to the east of downtown.

On Monday morning (my birthday!), we ate breakfast and headed out in search of snow. I had bought a new sled for the kids and they were very excited to take it for an inaugural run. We parked at Wanoga Sno Park, just off the Cascade Lakes Highway, because it was touted as the area's best official snow hill. We found it to be very steep, very hard-packed and icy, and with huge bumps and divots everywhere. Both kids took a run and did not enjoy it very much at all, tumbling and falling and getting bruised.

So we headed off into the forest along a faint snowshoe track and started sledding down little hills between the trees. We fell into a few tree wells, had to bail out to avoid crashing into other trees, but in all had a delightful time. The best was at the end when we converted a long slow downhill ski track into our own sledding luge line.

After a couple hours, cold, wet, and hungry, we headed back to our little house.