Bound for Bend and Brody's Birthday Bash!

While we are camped in John Day, in far eastern Oregon, for about a week, the highlight of our stay was to drive west to Bend to visit David's sister Leslie, her husband Mike, their daughter Megan and her husband Jeff, and -- most importantly -- Megan and Jeff's daughter Emerson and son Brody.  Here, Leslie caught a photo of the rest of us on our Saturday bowling adventure (more on that later):

Our trip started Friday morning, April 12, when we dropped our cats off at a pet resort in John Day.  It was based at a veterinary clinic that also specializes in equine and other large animal veterinary medicine.  We could tell that the kitties would be in good hands when we saw this large wooden sculpture in the front yard:

Our drive took us past John Day Fossil Beds National Monument, which we plan to visit later in the week.  The craggy volcanic rock formations whetted our appetite to explore the wonders of that monument.

But we had miles to go before returning to this outdoor adventure.

Before getting to Leslie's house, we had some shopping to do.  We wanted to pick up some specialty gins to share with our friends Dave and Leslie when we see them in Penticton next month as we start our long trip to Alaska.  Our stop was the Oregon Spirit Distillers in Bend, which specializes in craft whiskey and other spirits, including FOUR types of gin.

We had to taste the gins, of course!  We picked the most interesting one for our Canadian friends, and then grabbed two others we really liked for ourselves.  You have to understand that  this represented great restraint, because the selection of spirits was overwhelming:

A second stop was at REI in Bend to pick up new hiking boots.  We just keep wearing ours out, and we knew Bend would have what we wanted.  Once done shopping for the outdoors, we stopped for a quick lunch on the bank of the beautiful Deschutes River, where we spotted a random paddle-boarder socializing with the local geese as they rested on their long migratory journey:

Once we finished the logistics, we headed over to David's sister Leslie's house, where Leslie, Mike and the Welcoming Committee (viz., Gus and Millie) made us feel right at home:

Megan, Jeff and the kids popped over for dinner Friday night, but before dinner, the kids took us over to a nearby park to sample the park's recreational riches.  Here, Em and Brody show Grammie and Uncle David how to bounce with abandon.  Kathy volunteered to take the photo so that she wouldn't have to try to stay up on the bucking machine for a full 9 seconds:

The Masters golf tournament was in progress this weekend, so, after watching the end of Friday's round (Mike and Jeff led this activity) and enjoying a hearty home-cooked meal from Leslie, we retired to the cozy little guest apartment that Mike and Leslie maintain over their garage.

It seemed but a moment before the sunlight came streaming in the window, rousting us up to take our morning coffee walk on Saturday:

Leslie and Mike described a forest path down to the Deschutes River.  We decided to tackle it and soon found ourselves on a beautiful pedestrian bridge over the river.  Kathy perches on the bridge in the photo below --

-- while gazing at the high waters that have been fed by extraordinary snowmelt and rains this Spring:

Once we finished a walk with Mike, Leslie and the puppies, and digested breakfast, we met the kids and grandkids for a rousing bowl-a-thon, where Leslie took the photo at the beginning of this blog.  Kathy claimed high score, with Jeff breathing closely down her neck.  We'll just say that the rest of us finished proudly.

Saturday afternoon was more relaxed, as we ate a light lunch prepared by Megan and Jeff and watched part of the Masters round and their house.  We capped the night off with a dinner out, and then fell peacefully into bed for another good night's sleep.

The Masters was already under way when we awoke, so we hurriedly dressed, made our coffee, and joined Mike and Leslie to watch the final Sunday round before heading over to Brody's Birthday Bash at a trampoline zone in Bend.  Thanks to the masters.com phone app, we were able to keep track of Tiger Woods' amazing comeback victory while also chasing each other and a dozen of Brody's friends around the bouncing zone.

Brody set the pace with a mean session of trampoline dodge ball, where we witnessed unspeakable violence as Brody and Em overwhelmed Kathy's defenses.

While Kathy recovered from her dodge ball drubbing, David took up the gauntlet and challenged Em to a jousting match on a narrow balance beam.  Here they set up for their fierce competition:

Em took David to school, we must admit, as you can tell from this video of Emerson giving David a drubbing!

Brody and his gang moved so fast from trampoline basketball to trampoline gymnastics to bouncing this and bouncing that, that we couldn't keep up with him.  We decided it was a little less hectic to watch Emerson demonstrate her wall climbing skills.  Here, she sets up the climb:

 Then, not once, not twice, but FOUR TIMES, Em conquered the wall.  In this video, Emerson demonstrated the expert approach.

 She paused long enough to accept Kathy's accolades before we repaired to the party room where Em and Brody and their friends ravaged innumerable pizza pies.

The kids partied on while we left with Leslie and Mike to enjoy a light lunch and a little more shopping for Oregon goodies for our Canadian friends.  Then, sadly it was time for us to leave.  We stopped back at the Crews' house to bid a teary farewell to Millie (too sad to face the camera) and Gus (who looked at us only to plead that we not leave so soon):

After many pre-byes, good-byes and bye-byes with Mike and Les, we sadly hopped in the Jeep and returned back to John Day, but not before enjoying a second trip through Picture Gorge along the John Day River:

It was hard to leave so soon, but we took heart in having already planned our next reunion, along with David's sister Maggie and nephew Tyler, and Leslie and Mike's son Sam, his wife Kim, and their two girls in October, when we return down the Oregon coast on our trip back from Alaska.

Thank you for such a wonderful visit, Leslie, Mike, Megan, Jeff, Emerson, Brody -- and, oh yes, Gus and Millie.  We'll see you soon!