Summertime is Visitor Time

Our friend Petey came for a visit last Sunday.  He originally had planned to come during the week but when his plans changed, he drove the eight hours from Davis California where he was visiting his cousin and arrived Sunday afternoon.  This was a fortunate change of events as our kids are very busy during the week but were free for a barbecue.  Matt brought the corn hole game and we enjoyed the afternoon sun in our backyard.  That's the only sun Petey has enjoyed here as the weather turned the very next day.

Petey and I have taken morning walks in the field behind our house and since he's a retired botany professor, I've had the extra treat of information to go with the pretty wildflowers.  It's helped me to better use my Wildflowers of the Pacific Northwest book.

We had warned him to watch for deer on his drive into our neighborhood and he had just said how disappointed he was not to see any when suddenly we came across these two young bucks with antlers in velvet.

The weather left us with limited options so we ended up eating our lunch out every day, probably not the most wholesome activity.

The road to Tumalo Falls just reopened after being closed for a year so we drove up to see it on Thursday.  Even with the drizzly rain it was very crowded.  This is not a place to go on the weekend, that's for sure.  We pulled up our hoods and took the short walk to the observation area at the top of the falls.  What a beautiful piece of real estate!

Rain came in earnest yesterday nixing the places that we had planned to go but then we realized that Petey had never been to the High Desert Museum.  Even though we had been there just a month ago, there's so much to see that we piled into the car and drove through the deluge to the perfect indoor destination.  I love how bronze sculptures appear throughout the landscape like this fish "swimming" upstream.

They have assembled the perfect mix for all interest levels though the main thrust is childrens education, like this weather station.  I want to take my granddaughter Alexia here when she visits this summer.  I know she'll enjoy every bit of it, but I think she'll really have fun creating a simulated weather forecast.  This display gets the attention of all ages.

And then there's today.  It has rained since last night and is projected to rain into the early afternoon.  Our plans are on hold for now but as soon as the rain turns to drizzle, we plan to head downtown for the Saturday Market which is craft vendors, and a special event called Bite-of-Bend.  We don't know what that is but it's well advertised and probably means eating yet another meal out at noon.  Most of our lunches have been so late that we've snacked our way through dinner but today I'm putting chili in the crockpot.  It will smell great when we walk in the door.