This is our first sight of Mt. Hood ~ traveling East. I have been living in the shadows of Mt. Hood since I was born.....during the Civil War)...????
Al and I are extremely excited to visit Connie & Larry in Crooked River Ranch and look forward to them visiting us again!! Sure hope that Connie's ex-Cousin in-law, Shirley, will come out here from Michigan and join us next year!!!

Up we go around MT. HOOD and down the other side to Crooked River Ranch......Oh some of these sights remind me of my 'younger days'. This is an incredibly gorgeous part of Oregon and definitely a travel destination.

When I was in Grade School (1951-1959) my parents would bring me up to Mt. Hood National Forest and Mom would go fishing in the Zig Zag River....Dad would stay in the cabin or play golf at Welches. Mom would call herself a "fisher-woman"... then we would always have trout for dinner.....what does that say?

We drove by these two different "watering hole's" which brought back some old skiing memories..... (or some after skiing memories) .... Oh what fun we had at these places.

"Those were the good ol' days"

Some of the World Famous Ski areas on Mt. Hood. I remember when I was a little girl, my parents took me to Snow Bunny where I rode down the snowy hill on a innertube....oh what fun. Then when I was in High School and College I came up to Ski Bowl and Timberline to go downhill skiing! Oh those were the days...

Mt. Hood ~

Picture taken from the southeast side. Every picture of this towering mountain is quite awesome to me and part of my life as I was raised in the shadows of this gorgeous mountain, in Portland, Oregon.

Come back and visit this Blog again soon as I will be adding more pictures of this trip....and more.

A Historical Marker along the way...

We stopped at this restaurant to find out if anyone inside knew the Radio Station numbers for the Indian music played from the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and transmitted over the radio.....no luck

This is one of the 'best' restaurants in Madras!

Next time in Madras we might check it out!!!!!

We spotted this TeePee set up in a large grassy meadow...wonder if the 'tribe' was hiding in the bushes..

Madras, Oregon is a town just south of Warm Springs Indian Reservation and the beginning of the eastern Oregon desert terrain and weather.

CONNIE & LARRY'S HOME ~ CROOKED RIVER RANCH

We arrived at Connie & Larry's in Crooked River Ranch after following her 'perfect' directions right to the front door. They have just finished building this wonderful home.. (I should have stood further back to take this picture as the house is much bigger than it shows here.) It is a gorgeous home and extremely well designed by Connie herself...

http://www.crookedriverranch.com/

Kitchen is decorated in 'Desert Southwest' style as most all the tiles, paintings, screens, plates, bowls, knick-knacks, etc. were purchased in Mexico. The tequila and margarita mix is part of that decoration too...

The sign that is blurred says "Free Beer Tomorrow".... love it...

Top right is the front door and old upright piano on the right of the door. The wall was completed with something called Italian plaster and it was absolutely gorgeous. Apparently the way it was applied was to first paint big red swatches on the wall and then 2 people used a special way to finish applying this plaster with the 3rd and 4th color (different shades of gold). It is beautiful. The whole living room, hall and dining room are done this way. IMPRESSIVE!

Master Bedroom done in a luscious purple and a beautiful soft Celadon Green. They used one of their other carved screens in the master which looks out on their patio and hot tub. Absolutely Gorgeous!!!

I will be posting lots more pictures but I am going to one of Al's performances. He plays the Blues and that is all he plays!

To be continued.

Master Bathroom ~

It was HUGE and totally gorgeous. This shower alone was like another room it was so big.

The picture on the left is the beautiful S.W. style screen in the biggest guest room. The out of focus picture on the right is the smallest guest room/computer room. Wish I would have taken a picture of the beautiful guest room bed and the scruptious bedding. Best night's sleep I have had in a long time. It was a 10+!!

Love that tile in the Utility Room and the window they took from their home outside Portland when they remodeled, then added mirrors ~ it was unique and added just that special 'touch'.

Cute Connie in her gorgeous kitchen....

Larry is such a 'card'. His personality and sense of humor are absolutely incredible. He is a true and sincere friend. We had so much fun and thoroughly enjoyed every minute with Connie & Larry. Can't get any better than those two.

My, oh my!! This is our Mexican Dinner that Connie presented to us. Upper left of the dinner plate is her fantastic Mexican Corn Casserole and on the right are her incredible Enchaladas . For an excellent topping she served a great Guacamole and yummy Salsa. It was all muy bueno. (very good). We were thrilled to be able to share this meal with them in their new dining room. She also spoiled us with wine and beer for dinner.

This was our dessert for our dinner.....

Cream Puffs. Connie's fabulous meal was a culinary delight..

Stay tuned until tomorrow to see the next posts from our delicious dinner and the House and Garden home that Connie & Larry built...

Little Toula Dog............. She is a smart and gorgeous Airdale.

So our host and hostess woke up early after our fabulous Mexican dinner to make us breakfast. They cooked us bacon, eggs, and potatoes ~ how fabulous is this?

This is Toula, the Airdale, and her turtle friend.

This is Connie & Larry's House-Warming present... Connie thought that she would mimic this bird house's facial expression. Aren't they cute?

This smiley face (which is actually a bird house) is our house warming present to Connie & Larry. We all decided that she looked cuter in the vegatable basket.

Crooked River Ranch is sitting on the rim of the Deschutes River Canyon.
Quite the drop-off!