Winding down with the Whiteds: Bend Fourth of July trip: Part 1

We took an unforgettable trip to Bend over the 4th of July. Bryce took a week off and the four of us had a different adventure every day. We were able to stay at our friend's house (free!) for the entire week. Back in July, the weather was actually cooler than usual not only in the Portland area but even in Bend on the other side of the mountains. It was low 70s and sunny every day, so perfect for hiking and getting outside, but not quite warm enough for throwing on swimsuits and swimming as much as we had hoped. Although we did spend the warmest day swimming all day. It felt like a perfectly packed itinerary with lots of different things and the kids loved it as much as we did. So, here's what we did, day by day.

Day 1 (Saturday, 7/2):

On the way to Bend, we actually stopped to do a hike. It was on the way to Bend and a very nice place to hop out and take a break from the 3.5 hour drive. The McKenzie River Trail to the Tamolitch Blue Pool was a hike we really wanted to check out. Since it goes along the river, it wasn't straight up hill. This was the first hike that we only brought one backpack for Carter. Bryce and I miscommunicated about the length...I thought it was about 2 miles round trip so I was sure that Maddie could do it. When we got started, Bryce said it was almost 4 miles round trip! With lots of encouragement and probably less than 1/4 mile riding piggy back, she made it! The blue pool was amazing, but difficult to hike/scramble down to actually put our feet it. Lots of people were jumping in or just sitting around it. One negative about the hike-mountain bikers shared the trail, so many times, we had to quickly move to the side. Plus, it was pretty crowded, but with good reason. Carter even enjoyed hiking a little bit when we first got started.

We stopped in the little town of Sisters (fun fact: the real Dwight Schrute-Rainn Wilson- has a house here) to grab dinner and a well deserved ice cream for the kids.

Day 2 (Sunday, 7/3):

We checked out the weather and decided it was the best day to go to the community pool. Our friend's house is not even 10 minutes from downtown Bend, down the street from a grocery store, a few streets away from the pool, and a few parks. It was perfect. We spent all day at the pool just relaxing and playing. We were going to head home for Carter's nap time, but he fell asleep in the stroller at the pool while one of us slowly pushed him around. This was probably Maddie's favorite day.

Day 3 (Monday, 7/4):

Happy fourth of July! In the morning, we drove 30 minutes up to Mt. Bachelor. Maddie was also very excited to ride a chair lift again. She went on so many lifts in Switzerland and had asked multiple times in the first few months of living here, "Why don't we go on gondolas any more? Can we go to a mountain and go up on a gondola?" We went for a little hike at the top and stopped for lunch at the restaurant. It was fun. Then we were back at the house for nap and rest time.

Whenever we start on a hike, she almost always starts as a trail runner.

In the early afternoon on the same day, we all got on our bikes to head downtown. We sat by the Deschutes River near downtown and watched people tubing down the river. We missed the parade by a couple hours but still saw lots of people dressed up along with bikes decked out for the 4th. Then we rode down to 10 Barrel Brewing for dinner. So good! Then it was an early bedtime for all of us.