More Skiing, Creek Crossings, Rattlesnakes, and Fly Fishing

So. I’ve been busy.

Two Fridays ago, Dad and I hiked part of South Sister and skied some laps.

I had to start out in sneaks and carry my skis.

Dad carried his skis and my boots.

The snow was sun-cupped and tricky. Maybe you can see the huge dimples in the surface…

But I still skied like the champ that I am.

After a couple of runs we skied/hiked out.

And had a late afternoon Cliq chair picnic.

Two days later, we went backpacking. We tried to find somewhere quiet and pretty, so we chose the Black Canyon Wilderness.

Here I am, ready to go.

One minute into the hike, there was a river crossing.

A few minutes later, there was another.

And then another.

And so it went, for FOURTEEN river crossings.

The trail was quiet.

It did not appear that many folks had hiked here – so we had to make our way through long grass and sometimes hunt for the trail.

It was very pretty and we didn’t see a soul, but we did see 6 rattlesnakes and countless other slithery reptiles and there was cheatgrass everywhere – leaving painful grass seeds in our socks and shoes.

After we set up camp, I tried out my new filter bottle from Uncle Chris. Awesome.

It was Father’s Day, so The Mother made us take many pictures.

The next day, it was cold and rainy. No one was particularly excited for the hike out, but we soldiered on.

We took a roundabout way home from our trip and stopped in Portland for the night. We ate dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. We had fresh salad rolls: vermicelli noodles, carrots, bean sprouts, lettuce and basil. Wrapped in rice paper, served with homemade peanut sauce.

The Mother had Banh Xeo Chay crispy crepe: a savory crepe stuffed with shiitake mushrooms, bean sprouts, jicama, served with fresh lettuce and dipping sauce.

Dad had ginger chicken in a clay pot: braised chicken in caramelized shallot soy sauce with fresh ginger, served with jasmine rice.

I had the Sai Gon combo: vermicelli noodles with an assortment of grilled chicken pork, beef and shrimp. Served with fish sauce dressing 

When we got home to Bend, I took Dad to the Yacht Club (thanks, Pop).

I’ve been in a planting kind of mood and bought flowers for and planted six pots for the front walkway.

Mom’s friends Katie and Brad have a boat and fly fishing equipment. They offered to take us ‘drifting’ on the Deschutes and show us how to fly fish. We went on Saturday.

It was 91 degrees out, so we were overjoyed to stop along the river and stand in its chilly waters trying to catch fish all day. It was absolutely beautiful and a ton of fun. Thankfully, Katie didn’t tell mom how much a fly fishing rod costs until we were all done using theirs…

On Sunday, I hit the trails and tried out some new moves I learned in mountain bike camp.

I made two meals since my last update. My, now, famous chicken marbella.

And, I attempted to recreate the yummy dinner I had a Pelican Brewing. Brats and bacon sauerkraut. The meal at the restaurant came with potatoes but The Bigs said I needed to make a green vegetable, so I made brussel sprout salad.

Mom made kimichi pancakes

and superhero muffins.