Winter Break

HOLIDAZE: It won't surprise anyone to read that we went missing as we got caught up in the swirl of holiday season activities.

It felt like it was a sprint from about Dec. 20 to Dec. 31. One event after another, gatherings here and there, and stuff to gather everywhere.

We ended up having some Christmas Eve snow - about four inches at our place. It was lovely to look at, but not so lovely given that we had to be at the airport at about 5:30 on Christmas morning. 

We had reserved an Uber for 5 a.m. Dec. 25, but when we upped on that day, nary an Uber was to be found. There was one lone car roving all of south Seattle, from about Boeing Field to Seatac. 

Fortunately, I had anticipated this scenario, so Christian had chained our Honda CR-V up the night before, and we carefully made our way down our steep hill and toward the airport. We arrived in plenty of time, and Seatac was a ghost town. The TSA agents were waiting on US for a change. 

Though the flight from Seattle to Bend, Oregon, was short (just under an hour), getting there was a bit of a drawn out process. Once we boarded the plane we first had to wait for well over an hour to get the plane de-iced (well worth the wait, of course), and then we had to wait many, many more minutes for a runway. Eventually, we took off about 1.75 hours after the prescribed time. It was a bit of a bumpy flight, but we made our way to Bend safely, which is what counts.

Along the way, we spied this lovely mountain outside a western-facing window.

 Check out that dramatic valley stretching out north of Mt. Hood.

Once in Bend, we appreciated sunny skies, the different vistas that high desert living provided, and wonderful hospitality.

We also got to see some of the city. Our first stop was a cool, old-school arcade, Vector Volcano. The place had a wonderful collection of old school video and pinball games. 

We also got to visit Bend's beautiful, outdoor ice skating arena, The Pavilion.

 CJ and I were spectators, but Annabelle (in a Team Unicorn hoodie) took a few spins.

 She was solo at first, but after a bit Christian decided to join her.

I spied these stones (below) just outside of the rink. I had to tell CJ they were for the sport curling.

Bend is a hot spot for micro breweries. We checked out McMenamins St. Francis, Crux Fermentation Project, Boneyard, and Worthy Brewing. 

The kids visited Santa Keg outside of super busy Crux.

Worthy even has a Hopservatory! We hope to visit again some day when it's open for some stargazing! 

It's also open for solar gazing (through a telescope with a filter) from time to time.

In checking out their website, it turns out that Worthy's Hopservatory is actually operated as a separate 501c3 non profit. 

We headed back to Seattle on Dec. 28 via the lovely little Redmond, Oregon, airport. We couldn't help but chuckle at its "Charlie Brown" type tree on the mezzanine. 

It seemed a symbol that Christmas was, in fact, over.

All in all, a whirlwind couple of weeks! 

And now, we're right back in the thick of things in Seattle. 

Welcome, 2018!