Blessings in disguise

As much as I'm loving the down time, and becoming acquainted with our new home, there are some things I miss that are in Colorado. Everything was comfortable- our weekly routine, friends, our jobs, church, and our neighborhood. Moving is an adventure, and with a new home and neighborhood, it tkes time to meet new friends, find a church, job, and a routine that works for you. Althoug, I must admit... there were times I hated our routine in Colorado, as I felt it prohibitted us from being spontaneous or venturing to the mountains for a hike.
Well, Bend offers so many new routines for both Larry and I, and I just wanted to be sure and recognize the blessings that we've seen thus far:

• Picnic Lunches at Drake Park at noon on a weekday!
• Biking to the Wednesday Night Farmer's Market, and then for gourmet pizza on the way home!
• Meeting perfect strangers, welcoming us to Bend and giving of their time and recommendations.
• So close to the mountains, that traffic is only fifteen minutes!
• Mountain breezes that come through our front bay window.
• Meeting a new dog everday that has just gone for a swim in the Dechutes River.

Fire in the night sky

Last night, Larry's company had an Open House to celebrate the 25 years they've been in business. It was a great gathering! It was great to meet everyone's spouse and we all had great conversation. Larry even had the opportunity to network with a few clients and competitors that swung by for the party.

Just a everyone began heading home, the sun set behind the mountains in Bend. Unfortunately, there's forest fire that's near Sisters, Black Crater Butte, that has already engulfed 1700 acres. You can see the smoke from the fire n these sunset photos. It smelled like a campfire too. Here's hoping the fire becomes contained soon. Evacuations are in the midst. Our friends in Colorado completely understand, I'm sure.

A few wedding items

While filtering through our many photographs this week, we've discovered a few wedding photos that we thought you might enjoy.
Instead of a guest book, we had a Wishing Tree in keeping with Japanese tradition. We unfortunately did not receive everyone's wishes. We were blessed to have to girls, Emma (pastor's daughter) and Kayleigh (flowergirl) sign a wish each. It was precious to read their wishes for the both of us. Plus, I think they established a great friendship during the wedding, each playing with parasols in the backyard. Hopefully there is a picture of that!

After our wedding, we drove to the Grand Tetons and then onto Bend, all while traveling with the top of our wedding cake. Luckily, it kept cool in a cooler that we had to keep cold each night back at the hotel. It has been delicious to eat our first week in our new home, and we have two pieces left.

Thank you Brian for the delectible treat you gave us! I just love the detail in each hand cut and painted sakura (cherry) blossom. Our cake will never be forgotten!

Sisters - new family favorites

After our hike on Saturday, Larry and I decided to visit Sisters. Sisters is approximately 20 minutes west of Bend on Highway 20. It's a quaint town that we discovered on our Oregon drive tour in 2003, thanks to John Lee's recommendation. Here are the peaks you can see along the drive, coincidentally called Sisters (North, South, and Middle Sisters).
There are ranches along this route, that grow hay for their horses. It's beautiful to the horses graze with the mountains in the background.

Rebecca found her new home quilting store three years ago on our Oregon Trip '03. There's a great selection of batik and oriental prints to sew with. In fact, Rebecca didn't leave without a few purchases- 2yd of a great olive bamboo print, and two fat quarters ( sample fabric averaging about 1 square foot in size) in a fun retro lime green print. She hopes to make pillows for our new living room, after we purchase the couch we both like. A friend recommended a home furnishings store in Tumalo, coincidentally on the way to Sisters. We checked it out and liked a couch in Olive green microsuede with two recliners on either end. The house is coming together nicely, and decorating has been fun as a team.

Rebecca isn't the only one who has a favorite store in Sisters. Larry loves the Doc Holiday Bookstore, that has a large collection of books covering topics on the Old west, Cowboys, and Native American history. He purchased a fiction book on George Drouillard, guide to the Lewis & Clark expedition. It's interesting to hear how he got the job. There's a wealth of history in the west! We're beginning to feel like modern day pioneers, following parts of the Oregon Trail and reveling in the history lessons we receive along the highway.

Tumalo Falls Hike

Last Saturday, we decided to escape the heat in town and hike along Spring Creek to several waterfalls. We started at 8am and ended at 10, managing to hike 4 miles roundtrip. We would have loved to continue on the trail to complete a large loop, 6.8 miles. Unfortunately, the bugs were awful on the trail and it was beginning to rain.
We were amazed by how many mountain bikers were on the trail. I didn't think I could ride my mountain bike up some of the terrain we had to climb. It was impressive.

The trail begins at Tumalo Falls, a drop of fifty feet into the canyon below. The trail ascends steeply in the beginning to the overlook where you can see Tumalo Falls up close. On the backside of the falls, we watched two chipmunks frolics. They were quite playful and humorous to watch.

The path then winds through forest, thick with a variety of pine and spruce trees. There were three waterfalls we would see on the trail, starting with Tumalo Falls, then Double Falls abut a mile ahead, and ending with Upper Falls. We thought Double Falls was the most inspiring out of the three. You can be the judge.

Majestic Grand Tetons

Grand Tetons National Park is a great national treasure. Located in the north west corner of Wyoming, the Tetons range is like nothing else in Wyoming. Compared to the flat desert like surface along I-80, the Tetons is an oasis for your eyes and inspiration.
Rebecca had visited the park before on a family trip in her teen years, but Larry had never been. He was surprised by the view of these majestic peaks rising 13000 feet above the valley floor, known as Jackson Hole. There are views of mountains 360 degrees from the valley floor.



The day we arrived, there had been some rain showers and it continued throughout the evening. The next day, Wednesday, July 12, the clouds were lower than the mountain peaks, creating a mystical feel to our car ride into the park. We toured on the main road via car in the early morning to take in the all the mountain views. We also stopped at the Cunningham Cabin and strolled around the quarter of a mile trail taking in the history of the area.

We had a few recommendations for hikes to take in the park, and decide to hike to Taggart and Bradley Lakes. Located at the base of Grand Teton peak, the trail is a gradual climb to two lakes at the foot of this range. All in all, the trail is about 5 miles round trip, approximately 400 feet in elevation gain, starting at 6629 feet above sea level. Coming from Colorado at 5280 fet above sea level, the hike was pretty easy.
When we reached Bradley Lake, we stopped to take in the scenery and take photos of the reflection of the mountains in the crystal blue lake. The reflection magnifies the actually height of the mountains and plays with your mind. After taking a break and capturing the view both mentally and digitally, we began to take the small path around the lake to capture more views. However, we didn't get very far as we encountered a black bear munching on his lunch in the trees in front of us. We had to have been about 25 feet away from him, when he looked up at us. Larry and I stepped back away from the bear and ran out the trail. By the way, do not run away from a bear. You should back away slowly and continue to do so. Needless to say, we got a work out in on that trail. What was humorous later that day, was our friend who recommended this trail had mentioned in his notes, that this was where he encountered his first black bear as well.

Intimate Colorado Wedding, no room for rain

Rebecca and Larry were married on Sunday, July 9 at 6:30pm in Denver, CO. The wedding was beautifully choreographed to tie in oriental elements like lanterns and cherry blossoms as well as not overpower the gorgeous natural beauty of Rebecca's cousins' backyard. Though the weather was a bit damp and dreary, Denver had 3 days of rain, the rain and wind stopped before the ceremony. We feared our guests would be cold and wet, and that wasn't the case at all. It was a cool 65 degrees, but it was a delightful surprise, as it kept the cake from melting. All that mattered were the vows, the cake, and great times with all our closest friends. We had about 55 in attendance. We had just enough time to visit with everyone, but of course we would have loved more time with our friends before our departure for Bend, OR.
More pictures will be posted soon. Larry took this picture just before walking down the aisle.