Now where was I?

Before I was so rudely interrupted by creating exams and finishing up a course, I was about to discuss our trip up the McKenzie River to Sisters. The lectures are "in the can" and the exams are finished and printed, ready to "administer". So back to things at hand. We decided to break up the trip by venturing out Friday nite. We finally got to the Eagle Rock Lodge http://eaglerocklodge.com/ on the McKenzie River, east of Eugene about 9:30 pm. Although I remember seeing the sign on our trip down the McKenzie Highway last year, our only images of this place were from the web. We pulled up in the dark after winding a bit in the dark, finding the sign and making our way through the entrance to the lodge. We looked at each other with that "oh, oh!" look. What had we gotten into? I hasten to tell you that curb appeal isn't everything. Debbie pulled in behind us and Randy was in the office. Not sure if we have met 2 nicer people. We really felt comfortable immediately. The inside of the lodge was as promised by the internet info and we were promised that we would wake in the morning to a beautiful view of the river.. Wow... it was true. Georgia was overjoyed with the Fireplace suite and had a hard time coming to bed because she didn't want to leave the fire. I caught her a couple of times during the night raising up to look over me, gazing at the fire. Me, being the early riser of the group, was up at the crack of dawn. (Now what would Mrs. Boley have said about that sentence.... "Me was"????? Help me here Greg, I'm at a loss. Guess I'll just go on. In the cool morning light the McKenzie glistened as it chattered to me, beckoning me to come closer. This is the life. So if it looked like I needed a fishing pole at Suttle Lake, here is a place where the trout really run (according to locals). "Hawk" the Brittany Spaniel" took me on a riverside jaunt. I didn't realize that he was "somebody" til I saw his plaque in the office. In the yard were all kinds of tall trees. There was a branch of inscense cedar on the ground. I told Debbie that we paid dearly for little bundles of this stuff to decorate with at Christmas in Illinois. She said, "and we throw it on the burn pile. (See the pic below Hawk's plaque. Let me know and I'll send you all you want." (See the pic below Hawk's plaque.) I took my laptop to this great "lounge" in the lodge looking out on the river and sipped coffie til breakfast. (writing exam questions). Breakfast was super, as we have come to expect. The "new" taste to us was "brown sugar bacon"... my, my, my... mm good! Although it was difficult to leave, we got on the road toward Sisters. A few miles up the road, we found Harbick's Country Store, a place we had stopped at last year. Out in the middle of nowhere, a store with "everything". Although Georgia didn't appreciate it, I was taken by the bathroom with the CocaCola polar bears painted on the walls. (see below) We passed by Sahalie Falls where we had trekked through waste deep snow last year. (see post from last year). We got to Five Pine Lodge in Sisters early enough for Georgia to rest a bit while I explored. They actually call this a campus, with a movie house, a brewery, a convention center, eating, exercize.. pretty much everything you would want if you weren't sitting in the middle of all this natural beauty. The room was great, the restaurant was fantastic and lunch the next day at the brewery was also great. Now that I have mentioned 2 eating places in one sentence, it's probably time to show you the license plate of the Subaru we rented. Don't remember if I mentioned it before... But it does seem appropriate. Coming down the mountain, we kept driving through "clouds" pretty cool. Here are a few samples of that. Oh, Hopefully, you will also find a video of the "back" yard of Eagle Rock Lodge. Eagle Rock is a huge rock sticking out of the forest along the river.