Superbowl Reunion 2014

The last 4 years, the McCullough's have been with the Leadbetter's for the Superbowl. Well, last year the guys ditched us actually and went to Sedona, AZ on a guys trip... Last summer while visiting Sara and Chris in DC, I casually mentioned that we needed to plan something to keep this tradition going. They said they were in!

Brian and I have limited time left here on the west coast- and I've been wanting to get north, because I have never been to Oregon or Washington. Brian has never been to Oregon. I remembered his sister Cathryn driving through Oregon a few years ago, and saying she thought we would like Bend, OR. That stuck in my mind...

 I did a quick google search on Oregon last fall and found out that it is a popular outdoor sport destination- from water sports to mountain sports- they have something for everyone, all 4 seasons. The Leadbetter's like to be outdoors.... this might work I thought. Then I stumbled upon the"Bend Ale Trail," named after the more than 2 dozen micro- and nano- breweries that are located in Bend. We once traveled through Belgium with Sara and Chris, touring monasteries and drinking beer! I figured we could get them hooked on Bend. 

But would the Leadbetters would fly all the way across the country to go to a destination of our choice? 

YES!

They were all over it! Bought their tickets long before they even had a babysitter secured for their 3 kids! Oregon here we come...

Brian got home from Hawaii at 1am on Saturday morning and crawled into bed until the kids came crashing in at 6am, so excited to see him. We were out the door by 9:30am and on the road to Oregon.  (My mom was staying the 5 days with our kids...)

The drive was amazing! It was a beautiful, crystal clear day- and we could see snow capped Mt. Shasta ahead of us for several hours of our 8 hr drive-

Here is tiny Brian and stunning Mt. Shasta behind him-

Thanks to Yelp, we found an incredible lunch place to eat along the way. And then we stumbled into Weed, California- 

We couldn't resist a picture- 

And a couple t-shirts!

Next stop- Oregon!

I was giddy like a little kid to get to a new state that I'd never been to before!

We decided to rent a house, instead of 2 hotel rooms. And boy did we make the right decision! This 3 bedroom, 4 bathroom, 2 balcony, 2 car garage condo did NOT disappoint!

Watching the sun set over the snow capped mountains from the living room the first night was amazing!

Brian and I quickly unpacked and headed out to find some fun. How appropriate that we would stumble on a wine bar-

And we became members too! The locals were SO nice. And we found this to be true our entire stay in Bend.

We headed to dinner, stopped off at the grocery store and then drove 30 minutes to the airport to pick up Sara and Chris! We could have talked all night, but they were still on east coast time...

Sunday morning we headed out to see what this Bend Ale Trail was all about-

The guys both had some crisis' happening in their absence at work during the week- and had to telecommute via iPhone for a bit...

But, we still somehow managed to have a ton of fun!

Day 1

 Crux-

Boneyard-

Deschuttes- 

The location of our house was so great, because we could walk to 90% of where we wanted to go! The SuperBowl was quickly approaching at this point and we needed to get to the grocery store for some game time munchies. So we called a cab from the brewery and Nelson arrived- he would become our buddy while we were in town!

Here we are in the back of the cab, me giving Chris a thumbs up for founding some Sara & Farrah beer-

The Superbowl was TERRIBLE! But again, we all some how managed to have some fun. We stayed in that night, in front of the fire while the snow flakes fell outside. We played board games and my stomach hurt from laughing so hard! 

This is what we woke up to Monday morning-

The guys walked down to REI, while we enjoyed a slow morning- with no schedules or lunches to pack! (And I think we may have had some mimosa's!) Then we walked to meet the guys- 

We went to 3 breweries this day as well, but didn't take pictures at them all... However, we did try  beer at them all-

The best one of the day was McMenamins-

This is an old catholic school- turned into brewery, pub, hotel- along with a turkish soaking tub! Think giant, fancy, indoor hot tub- without a ceiling! We kept waiting for it to snow... Let me back up a bit though. So Sara and I go into the locker room to change and hear the guys being goofy in the hallway. We open the door to leave and Sara starts laughing so hard she can barely breathe. Turns out Brian bought some "swim shorts" (a bit more coverage than a speedo, thankfully) for he and Chris as a surprise to us! It was hilarious. And thankfully, even at 40 and 38, our guys can still pull that off!

Next up- Bend Brewery. Officially, the only one on the Ale Trail that we did not get to taste beer at. When we arrived, then had just closed. Hence my frowny face, and Brian trying to break in!

 Here's a random photo-

 This was a giant turkey, living in a tiny pen, across from the 10 Barrel Brewery- which for the record we all loved.

Monday turned out to be a fun, late night- so we woke up Tuesday (still snowing out, btw) and decided we needed some exercise! We drove up to Pilot Butte and all hiked to the top-

 Proof that the kids are never far from my mind, even when we are away-

Try as we might to drink more beer, Sara and I were just looking forward to a nap! So we snuck away on Tuesday afternoon and headed home for a nap- best decision ever! The guys walked to 3 breweries and the plan was to meet at the movies to see American Hustle all together at 6pm.

After our awesome naps, Sara and I went to the wine bar and then headed to the movies. The guys were calling and texting some hilarious messages! We were so thankful they had each other... and were in a cab!

Needless to say, we didn't all enjoy the movie together as planned. As we are walking out of the movie theater, who do we see sitting in the cold (with lots of snow falling now)-

Chris had gone home for some much needed sleep apparently.... 

The falling snow was the lightest, driest, most sparkly snow that any of us had ever seen. It was wonderful- and made me want to lay down, right there on the side walk, and make a snow angel! 

Yup, I did!

 But Sara climbed a giant bull, and that's way worse!

Hahahahha!

Brian tagged along with us to dinner (he should have caught some zzzzz's with Chris too!) and then photo bombed our selfie-

Much better-

The snow certainly brought on an element of happiness for us all-

 We headed  home to wake up Chris for our last shenanigans together, before their 4:45am departure (via taxi) to the airport. Would you believe it if I told you Sara had us all doing yoga at 1am? Yup, that is how we ended our trip together and it was perfect. (My fitness instructor friend recently got a new certification and wanted me to be her guinea pig- again!)

I HATED TO SAY GOODBYE the next morning. I missed her as soon as the taxi drove away....

Brian and I left a very snowy Bend on Wednesday morning, after another great breakfast at the Vintage Cafe. We ate there on Sunday morning all together and Chris said it was his second favorite breakfast of his life!

Our drive home wasn't nearly as exciting as our drive there had been. But, I sure was happy to be going home to the kids. 5 days away was the perfect length of time to be away...

Until next year, Leadbetters! I guess you can pick the spot...