Tag: Vacation

FivePine Lodge: My Room

FivePine has cabins and a lodge with rooms. I choose a lodge room and it was fan-tas-tic. It was bigger than my first studio apartment.

Just inside the door was this wet bar area with a microwave and a refrigerator. I especially appreciated the electric tea kettle and complementary tea.

There was a big comfy bed and two comfortable chairs by the fire. Outside, there was a little patio with chairs, that was very close to the pool. The pool is closed for the season, and it was a little too cold of patio sitting, but I bet it’s nice out there in other seasons.

There was also a desk area, should you want to do some work other than resting your bags.

The bathroom was about the size of the main area of my first studio apartment. There was a big shower, a toilet room, two sinks and a very large tub.

The room also came with a guest book and I read through it while drinking my complementary tea. A couple of people exclaimed in their entries “The water came from the ceiling!” I had no idea what they were talking about until I ran a bath.

Even being primed with news of water coming from the ceiling, I still shrieked with delight when the water came from the ceiling to fill up my bathtub.

I give FivePine five stars. Very fun experience. And there’s a complementary wine hour.

Trip to Sisters

I wanted to get out of town and found that I could take the bus to Sisters via Shuttle Oregon. So I did. The bus trip was great. It was a half-size bus (I guess one would call it a shuttle bus?), and I had a reservation for two nights at FivePine Lodge, a hotel that just happens to be a stone’s throw away from the Sisters Movie House, a four-screen theater.

I was worried about my walk from the bus drop-off location to FivePine Lodge. It was a straight shot and about a mile away, but that straight shot was on a major highway that I guessed wasn’t going to be great for walking next to. So I carefully plotted out a walking route via Google Maps and took pictures of the route, just in case I didn’t have cell phone service.

I need not have worried. Just past where the Military Trucks place is flagged, was a pedestrian trail that took me through a campground next to a creek and popped me out right next to downtown. There was adequate signage so I easily found the trail. The trip was just getting started and it was already off to a good start.

I missed lunch and knew I would need to get food in my stomach before the complementary wine and beer offerings at FivePine, so I took myself over to Three Creeks Brewing and ate a sandwich and fries while reading by the fire.

After that, I enjoyed my wine and then watched The Banshees of Inisherin at the Sisters Movie House. The movie theater was great. The movie, I did not like.

Then it was back to my spacious room for a good night’s sleep.

Miniature Golf at Oaks Park

Matt and I tried out the mini golf at Portland’s only amusement park.

I like that all the holes had these flags. They made it easier to get the ball in.

In fact, I was on fire during this golf game. “On fire,” in this case, is defined as mostly only being one over par and sometimes making par but still losing. Usually it takes me six or seven tries, hand-eye coordination not being a thing with me. But for whatever reason today, I could really get that golf ball where I needed it to be.

The course itself was very basic. But it was also deserted, which was nice. I hate to feel hurried during mini golf.

After Lunch, but Before Flight

The plus of leaving in the late afternoon is that you don’t have to hurry to the airport. The minus is that it can be hard to time the last day correctly.

We went to Walmart to buy souvenirs and then hung out at Nawiliwili Park and watched the surfers and SUPs until it was time to go to the airport. There were a few SUPs with hydrofoils.

After that, it was time to return the car, put our luggage through the fruit inspection, and hang out at the gate.