Part II: What we did on our Dogcation in Central Oregon

It's been nice outside so I haven't been writing too much. But I did promise to tell you all about our vacation in Central Oregon. We stayed at a dog friendly home rental that I talked about in my last post. That was pretty cool but what we ended up doing each day was full of adventure.

Since we had to be on leashes or tie-outs while we were in Sunriver, we were itching to get out and run free. So we looked up the dog parks in the area. While Bennington Properties had a small one, it wasn't our idea of ADVENTURE. So we found something in Bend that sounded ideal. It was in NE Bend and was part of Pine Nursery Community Park. The Bob Wegner Memorial Off Leash Park is a 14-acre off-leash area for dogs including grass field, splash pad, walking trails and separate small dog area. It was named after Bob Wegner a tireless advocate of Off Leash Areas in Bend.

That all sounded good but we were absolutely blown away by what we found at the park. It was a dog adventure area with trails, rocks to climb, trees, trails and even a huge grassy area for ball catching and rolling. Francesca liked that part for playing and rolling with other dogs. There were drinking fountains all over the place and benches for owners to rest on.

I like sniffing for lizards around the rocks and pine trees. It was a place we could get away from our owner where she couldn't see what we were doing. But you know what? We always came back to her.

We went to Bob Wegner park four mornings in a row. We got up at dawn and loaded into the car for the 25 minute drive. It was worth it. It was the greatest park we've ever experienced.

One day we found out it was a holiday... the Fourth of July. Now they don't allow fireworks at Sunriver so we almost forgot about it. But I heard some fire engines and police cars and wanted to investigate. So we (meaning everyone except Francesca) went over to the Sunriver Village and found out they were having a big festival. And we were just in time for the parade. Now there were supposed to be dogs in the parade but we only saw one. There were tons of families with decorated bikes. It was fun!

So that was an exciting day.

I have to admit that each day was exciting and the excitement started at dawn. That is when all the squirrels they put out in the woods started doing squirrely things and other animals traipsed through the area. So, of course, we had to ALL GET UP AT THE CRACK OF DAWN! I got frustrated because I wasn't allowed to chase the squirrels. One day there was a squirrel that climbed up onto our second floor deck and taunted me!

We took short walks every day and the last day we took a drive over to the river. We parked at the stables and walked down to the river. I wasn't in the mood to wade but Francesca walked right in. In fact, if she hadn't had a leash on, she would have gone swimming.

After that, it was time to get packed. We left at the crack of dawn the next morning before the squirrels got up! We had a good drive home and had a late breakfast once we got there. I was happy to be home. Francesca and I slept the entire first day home!

Love, Cinnamon