Day 408: Sisters, Oregon

In the 1880s Sisters was a supply station for sheep men passing through to pastures in the high Cascades in the summer. In the 1930s, the timber industry boomed and Sisters had several sawmills in or near town. By 1963 the last sawmill closed and the population declined.

Fortunately, tourist-related travel increased and Sisters became know as the Gateway to the Cascades. Now Sisters is a tourist destination. Winter has nearby skiing and summer has things like the Sisters Outdoor Quilt Show. Held since 1975, the quilt show brings people from all over. 12,000+ on quilt show day!

Every time we ever pass through Sisters I always buy tickets for the quilt raffle and I did that again today. Of course that happened at the Stitchin' Post, Sisters' magnificent quilt shop. And of course I had to buy some patterns and fabric while I was there.

Day 407: Trip to Sisters, Oregon

As we drove our 315 miles to get to Sisters, Oregon today lots of phrases came out of my mouth. And I took pictures for each one.

Yay! I'm so excited!
On Day 373 I "rode" my way to the Shoe Tree outside Juntura, Oregon. I was sad to hear that vandals had burned it down. But today I was so excited to see folks have found another tree not too far from the original and are starting one up again.

I'm glad I didn't really ride this road on a real bike. Watching tv when I was biking was so much better than this.
Mile after mile after mile (after mile) is nothing but desert and sagebrush.

It's going to storm.
Our morning started with beautiful blue skies but along the way we encountered rain, hail, and snow.

We're here!
Self explanatory.

Where else can you not have to step a foot off your hotel room's patio and see this kind of thing?
Llamas, squirrels, and Canadian geese. Who knew geese and squirrels were so friendly towards each other?

Day 406

I'm on the verge. Tomorrow is the day.

315 miles west from Marsing, Idaho is Sisters, Oregon. And I will be there tomorrow.

Literally, even. To coincide with my biking trip we are taking our own little venture, a getaway-from-the-rat-race trip. So my posts for the next few days will be travel pictures.

But not today. Today's picture is of the blossoms on our plum tree. The tree won't be nearly as pretty when we get back as it was today.

See everyone tomorrow in Sisters.

Day 405

By the look of today's pictures it's obvious I'm spending more time outside than anywhere else.  (Although you'd never guess that I didn't leave work until after 6:30 tonight.)

Today we have more lovebirds, some of my pretty daffodils, and my peony tulips. (Please ignore the grass and weeds.)

Day 404

They did it. My daugher and her boyfriend delivered my new landscape timbers and found some time today to put them in. While I sawed, they measured and dug. Unfortunately we ran out of time to completely finish them (daughter had to work tonight) but they look pretty darn good anyway. Much better than the bleached out/rotted out version.

Thanks for the work, guys!

And my daughter and her boyfriend weren't the only lovebirds busy. Take a look at the great woodpecker pictures Ruth sent my way!