Spring time offers limited availability for flying in the PNW. We are always looking at the weather app to see if there is a change where the weather will allow for adventure. It’s Easter weekend and our family in Oregon has offered to host us for dinner and an Egg hunt! We land at Sisters Airport, meet Gramie and its straight to dinner at the Sisters Saloon. The Saloon is a hotel from 1912 that has been restored and made into a restaurant. We dine in the dinning area and enjoy a meal of chicken wings, pasta and sliders- all of which are great quality.
If you have never been to Sisters you can walk to “town” in about 15 minutes. The town is known for its rodeo “The Biggest Little Show in the World” and quilt festival every year. We never seem to make either of the large events, but it is in our triangle for places to visit when coming to central Oregon.
After dinner as we are walking to the car when a girl runs over to us with a box! She said she is from the bakery across the street and offers us donuts. It is a huge full box( seemingly a lifetime supply of heart attacks in a box), but we are staying in a hotel for the night and its nice to have easy food around while everyone is gearing up for the day. I feel like this is the kind of thing that only happens in small towns!
We haven’t stayed at Tetherow for a while and choose it for the new pool and recreation center. The next day we have some donuts and head out for a hike in Tumalo. Nothing fancy, just exploring a few trails in the Tumalo State Park. We then head for lunch at Crux Brewery.
One of the things I really love about Bend is the chill environment, places like Crux and The Bite have open space with food trucks and yard games for kids. We enjoy just having some casual food and drinks, while the kids can move around and play. It is not always easy after driving to the airport, flying in the plane, then driving to restaurant to ask young kids to sit still for on hour sit down dinner, so we like to plan our trips focused on this consideration.
In the afternoon we dive into the pool. The website says the pool is heated; but it was a tad too chilly for our liking. We abort and go back to the room to relax. The next day is Easter and the kids get to do an Easter egg hunt!
What was really interesting about this trip from an aviation perspective was our departure. We planned to leave around mid day from Sisters. The weather looked great! It was sunny in Bend, the METAR at Bend and Redmond showed clear with nothing depicting on the radar. But as we drove from Bend to Sisters the sky started to get gray. Then Papa Pilots brother said it was snowing?! How could that be, every weather information source we had said it was only partly cloudy? Sure enough, as we get about 3 miles from the airport it starts to snow (dump actually). We sit in the truck wondering what to do. After a quick coffee break we come back and the weather is clearing. We use the windshield brush/ scrapers to get the snow off the plan before it melts and turns into ice. That small weather system lasted for only about 15 minutes but could have been potentially dangerous for us. Nevertheless, with the plane cleared off and the skies parting we made it home safe.
