Sisters Getaway : New Feature on Rickdancer.com
Sisters Getaway from Rick Dancer on Vimeo.
PLACE TO STAY
Kathy found this great place to stay, in Sisters, on the internet. This is the third time we’ve stayed at the Pine Meadows Village. These are the homes located right behind Les Schwab Tire Center, as you drive into Sisters. That picture was taken from one of two porches in this upstairs condo. It’s a two bedroom, two full bath place with a full kitchen, living room and access to a beautiful pool, hot tub and tennis court. The unit we stay in is called “Little Sister Condo.” It runs 140.00 dollars a night plus a cleaning fee. But considering what you get and where it’s located, you can’t beat it. The condo has great furniture and is comfortable and clean. If you’d like to take a look they have pictures on the website. Go to Pine Meadow VIllage. The phone number to contact the company “Sisters Vacation Rentals” is 541-977-9898. Kathy and I highly recommend this place. The neighborhood is quiet.There are these great water features, ponds and paths that go all throughout the complex and it’s right in town.
BEST FOOD/WINE
For dinner we chose to stay in.We rarely do that we like eating out. However, when you have a view like ours why go out to eat. But we didn’t cook our meal. One night we got a Pizza and the second night Calazone from “Martollis.” This is Authentic Hand tossed pizza baked in old fashioned slate ovens. It’s located right on the main street of town in Sisters at 220 West Cascade. The phone number is 541 549 8356. They close at 8 so if you like to eat late, like we do,order early and heat it up later.Large Pizza’s run $16 to 24 dollars. We took our own wine. We love a red cab out of Washington State called “14 Hands.” The only place locally you can buy it is World Market in Eugene and you have to ask for it. They don’t keep it on the shelves. For $8.99 you can’t beat it. They also have a Merlot and a nice white. Before dinner we went out for a beer at “Bronco Billy’s.” It’s a Sisters Saloon that gives the feel of the old west. Folks are very helpful and nice there. Bronco Billy’s is located inside the Old Sisters Hotel on the main drag at 190 E Cascade. The phone number is 541 549 7427.
If you follow my blogs at all you know that Kathy and I are snobby about two things, our beer and our coffee. I love good coffee and hate it when it’s not brewed properly. We found some of the best coffee in Oregon at the “Sisters Coffee Company.” The place is big, beautiful and roomy. It has free WIFI and a huge fireplace for those cold winter days. It is the greatest place to just hang out, get online, read a book or meet people. The folks at Sisters Coffee Company know how to make coffee. They’ve been roasting coffee in Sisters for decades and it tastes like it. I like the Black Butte Bomber. It’s regular coffee with four shots of espresso to give you just the kick you need to get going in the morning. The help at Sisters Coffee Company is amazing. They even know how to make our favorite afternoon drink a Cappuccino on ice. They also have an amazing patio area with a fountain, tables, chairs and in the winter a little fire pit outside to warm your bones. To me a coffee house is the main focus of every community and the folks at the Sisters Coffee Company know how to serve a great cup of coffee and provide a peaceful place for the community, and visitors like us.
FUN FACTS
So here are some fun facts about Sisters, Oregon. The population is officially 1,745 people however 12,000 people call the surrounding area home. The elevation is 3,200 feet. Hottest month is July with the average temperature at 84.3 and the coldest month is December with the average temperature 40.8.The average annual precipitation is 14.18 inches. Average snowfall is 32 inches. Black Butte Ranch is the largest private employer in the area with 325 staff, Aspen Lakes Resort is next with 98 employees and Ray’s Food Place employes about 80 people. Ray’s just opened a brand new store just as you come into town. It’s a great store. Reminds me of a Market of Choice. Great Wine selection and deli.If you want the best ice cream in town it’s the Sno Cap Diner. My son says they have great hamburgers and fries too. The place is always busy with lines going out the door.
BIKE TRAILS
Kathy and I love to cycle. The ride we took on Saturday started in Sisters. We headed east, took a left on Locust Street. We crossed highway 126, that’s a little tricky so be careful. We passed the airport as we rode out Indian Ford. When the road ends take a right on Green Ridge Road. Ride that road until it turns to gravel.We rode back the same way and the total was about 40 miles. This is a nice ride, some hills, not a lot of chip-seal. For those who don’t ride “chip-seal” is hell to ride on. Most cyclists don’t care for it. If you are planning to go to Sisters and need a bike trail you can ask the folks at a bike shop in town called Eurosports. The staff is so helpful and on Saturday Mornings they have group rides. You need to be ready to leave by nine. Eurosports is on the corner of Hood and Fir in Sisters. Open seven days a week. Here are a couple of websites where you can find cycle trails. Hey, one side note: If anyone is looking for a great deal on a White Specialized Bike Seat that’s easy on the male system, Eurosports will cut you a deal.I already have one or I would have purchased it. If that’s too much information for you, Oh well. Sisters Cycling Trails & Eurosports Bike Trails
I’m 50 and I’m Free.
It was just yesterday I was building a tree fort in the trees behind our house in Hillsboro. It wasn’t that long ago I was waiting on customers at Copeland Lumber and wondering whether I’d be doing that for the rest of my life. I remember my first Television Job in Coos Bay. I was so excited to finally be starting my career. That was in 1985. What happened? Where did all that time go?
Today I turn 50 years of age. I find that unbelievable and yet very significant. In Jewish Culture 50 years was considered the Jubilee.
It’s defined in Leviticus 25:9 as “Yovel” in Hebrew, as the Sabbatical Year.
50 is considered a special year for the remission of sins and universal pardon where debts are forgiven, slaves and prisoners freed and the mercies of God would be particularly manifest. It was a time when those who had sold themselves into slavery, were set free. Their inheritance, that had been traded or given away, was returned.
So what does that mean to me?
The past 18 months of my life has been a dying process. Idea’s and attitudes that once enslaved no longer hold me. The idea that once said “I had to” replaced with “I get to.” I’ve lost the desire to live up to the expectations of others and instead live in expectancy. You see, I had become a slave to what and who people thought I should be. I traded my true inheritance for something that wasn’t real.
I truly have been set free. But freedom is not a one-time deal. It takes time and practice to actually live that way. I still have some debts to forgive and I plan to take that very seriously, but here’s the deal, I sense God’s Universal Pardon is upon me. The most difficult aspect of freedom is remembering that the chains that once held you no longer have the power to hold. And if God is willing to pardon me, I must pardon those who have imprisoned me and that includes forgiving myself.
So I will celebrate “Yovel”, my Sabbatical Year. I will fight, not for a cause or justice but for the freedom to serve God. I will remind myself that I owe no one. I am no longer a slave to religion, to man’s idea of whom God is, to someone’s theology, to culture or man’s attempt to control through ideas, legislation or manipulation.
I’m 50 and I’m free. Lookout there’s no telling what’s going to happen now.
Cycling Welches to Kahneeta
Welches to Kahneeta from Rick Dancer on Vimeo.
There is something about cycling that just hooks you. Maybe it’s the pain you feel as you scale a mountain like Mount Hood. Perhaps it’s the feeling you get when your breathing settles, your heart rate stays where it’s supposed to be and you begin to ride high. I love this sport and have never found anything that makes me feel more like man and a machine at the same time. It’s almost like you become part of the bike. If you don’t understand what I’m saying, get on a bike and ride. Enjoy.
Put Down The Pen
Each day on this earth, we as God’s children have a choice: We can try to write our story as we wish it to appear or we can record it as it happens. That right there is the struggle of our lives.
My temptation is to create a well-written story that looks good on paper. I want a wonderful beginning, an exciting and well –thought out middle and a happy ending. The trouble is the three don’t always go together and one doesn’t necessarily lead to the other.
A few years ago I had my story finished. The beginning I couldn’t change that simply happened to me. I could cut sections to make it easier on the eye .The problem was that robbed each chapter and left my life sounding like a Hallmark Card.
As I look over my story I find the last few chapters, comforting yet vague, boring and not at all what the man inside wants them to look like. I wonder what would happen if I were to rip those pages from the binder, burn them, and say to God, “Okay, here’s the pen, you write the rest?”
And that is where I sit, right now, right here, in this place. I have handed the pen (or computer in my case) to someone I can’t see and given Him permission to create the conclusion. As a writer I keep trying to add words here and there to make it sound better. I find myself trying to edit God by drawing my own assumptions as I attempt to trim the twists and turns that cause a great story.
We each claim to seek adventuresome lives with jumps and twists and great mystery but when it comes right down to it we try to write out those chapters or put a choke hold on them whenever possible.
Yesterday as I was riding back down Mount Hood on my bike the speed at which my body was flying down that six percent grade was scary. I saw the sign up above and thought of God. He’s provided escape routes if needed so why am I so afraid to take my hands off the break and “go for it.”
I want to live my life as if there is an Escape Ramp for Runaway Trucks. So Rick, put the pen down, get your finger off the delete button, take your hand off the break and let’s go. We’ve got a story to write.
Why does going DEEP make us so uncomfortable?
Depth; What are we so afraid of ? from Rick Dancer on Vimeo.
Just a thought that keeps stirring in my brain.
Welcome to Rickdancer.com. I’m a guy who loves to write, enjoys communicating with people, gets a kick out of other people’s ideas and encourages everyone to get involved in the conversation. For 23 years I worked as a Television News Journalist in Eugene, Oregon. I recently lost a race for Oregon Secretary of State and am now at a point in my life where I’m waiting on God to see what’s next. I invite you to join me on this journey to freedom. You can simply read the blog, we have created a place for you to 
