Pendleton, Vacation, Round-Up

We just got back from a week in Pendleton where we took in some of the festivities of the famous Pendleton Round-Up and had fun tromping around the woods in pursuit of Grouse. This year was the 100-year anniversary of the Round-Up, so the town went all out in celebration. It has been several years since Dan and I have been in town during Round-up. Now we're more like tourists, then locals.

Gabe is sporting his little western outfit.

We went to the dress-up parade that kicks off the start of Round-Up.

I wasn't sure how Gabe would do, but he really had a great time. He especially loved the big loud trucks and all the kids running out for candy. He was wide eyed the whole 2 hours that went right thru his normal nap time.

We spent many hours driving and walking through the mountains of Eastern Oregon...our old stomping grounds :) After living so long in the crowded Willamette Valley, it was very nice to get back to the peace and quiet of rural Oregon. We saw lots of wildlife including two black bears, one of which we had a very close encounter with! Lets just say, we spooked him and he definitely spooked us.

A more familiar sight was this young buck.....

A view of the Steens Mountains in the distance.

We were going to camp a few nights, but thunderstorms kept rolling thru almost every day. At the prospect of getting soaked in our tent, we decided to do day trips instead.

Dan fishing on the Wallowa River. He caught some trout and plenty of White Fish.

A friend of ours from Portland came thru town so we went out to take in some Round-up Night Life. The is the famous Hamley's Steakhouse in downtown Pendleton. It was packed!

We finally did kick-up some Grouse the last day of our trip.

We had lots of help taking care of Gabe while we were there. Dan's mom and grandma watched him while we went out exploring (Thanks! we really enjoyed the break!) Gabe attached himself to his Aunt Kris whenever she was around. He had a great time and went to bed exhausted every night! We are already looking forward to our next trip back to Eastern Oregon.