Sunriver Resort (outside of Bend, OR) is one of favorite places to visit as a family. We have a blast every time we’re there. We never want to come home! Sunriver is definitely our happy place! We have visited in the spring and summer, but the best time to go (in our opinion) is the fall! The weather is still lovely and the quiet of off-season is nice, too! We just got back from a week of October adventuring in Sunriver. Here are the highlights!
We got into Bend on Monday and tried a new treat – Handel’s Homemade Ice Cream! It was so good! I loved my s’mores ice cream. Graham thought his cinnamon roll ice cream was great and Jeremy was pleased with his deep dish apple pie flavor. Only Owen didn’t love his treat… The kid is committed, heart and soul, to Tillamook Mint Chocolate Chip. For him, nothing compares! Oh well. Three out of four Scotts gave it two thumbs up! Once we got settled into our Wildflower condo, we walked across the street to the Village. Owen has been looking forward to getting a new Sunriver t-shirt and hoodie. Graham found a wolf t-shirt he loved. After we had our SWAG, we spent the rest of the evening at the Cove. The Cove is the resort aquatic center and it features two pools and two water slides. We spent hours at the Cove everyday! The kids are now going through Cove withdrawals!
Tuesday we explored the Newberry Caldera in the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. We hiked around Paulina Falls. We climbed all over Big Obsidian Flow. We enjoyed a picnic lunch at East Lake and then went looking for hot springs in the lake. You know you’re inside a volcano when you smell sulfur and find bubbling water! After the caldera, we took off for the Oregon Observatory at Sunriver. We had tickets for a stargazing event on Thursday and the weather forecast didn’t look promising. We found out the observatory was flexible and we had a couple options. While we were there, the employee let us use their special telescopes to look at the sun! Not something you can do everyday! A solar flare had just occurred and everyone was excited! Owen was also thrilled to see a sunspot. The observatory is right beside the Sunriver Nature Center. We decided to check it out as well. The nature center is small, but their birds are beautiful! The boys loved Luna, the Eurasian-eagle owl, and Freya, the gyrfalcon. We wrapped up Tuesday with Cove time and telescope time behind the Lodge. The Harvest Moon was very impressive that evening!
Wednesday was Owen’s 12th birthday! We celebrated with all his favorite things! We grabbed doughnuts at the bakery across the street before renting bicycles for Jeremy and I. We spent the morning cycling around the golf course and river. Such a pretty ride! It’s one of my favorite places in Sunriver. We had Papa Murphy’s pizza and Safeway chocolate cake for lunch. We spent our afternoon bike riding and looking for geocaches around the resort. Jeremy made Owen a special steak dinner before we went for an even walk/ride. So much bike riding! Then it was a swim at the Cove! The skies clouded up so we decided not to switch our observatory tickets to Wednesday. It was a little disappointing not to stargaze on Owen’s birthday and we were concerned stargazing might not happen at all with the forecast. Owen was sad, but we went to cheer up by the fire pits behind the Lodge. Fire always improves moods! Overall, it was a great and active birthday!
Thursday, we visited The High Desert Museum. It has a fun mix of regional animals and history. The boys enjoyed getting to pet a turkey at the Settler’s Sawmill. They also loved watching the bobcat stare down a butterfly and they got up close to a peregrine falcon at the Birds of Prey encounter. Our afternoon was spent doing a walk/ride around the resort and then hitting the Cove after dinner. We had kept our Thursday stargazing tickets in hopes that the sky would clear and miraculously it did! It was such a God thing and answer to prayer! This event was Owen’s birthday present and we’d been looking forward to it for months. The event featured guided telescopes to see special sights in the night sky. Employees were around to explain what you were seeing. In the middle of the event, they moved everyone to look at constellations in another part of the facility so they can reposition the telescopes for another round of viewing. Owen was in his element and he had a blast conversing with the employees. No surprise, we were the last leave. We had a very happy 12 year old that evening!
Friday was our final day. We packed up and tidied our condo before heading out to the Cove. We were there just before they unlocked the doors! After our final hours of swimming, we took off for the long drive home. We made some many good memories on this trip! We love exploring the Bend area and we equally love hanging around the resort. There are so many options for fun and adventure! It was sweet to celebrate Owen’s birthday in a special place. He definitely enjoyed the birds, the biking, and the night sky! Truthfully, we all enjoyed it all! It was a trip for the record books!
Amy Scott's Thoughts 