A Saturday in Sisters

Sisters, OR is a cute little touristy western town in central Oregon (population 1,900) where the manfriend, my mom and I spent the weekend for my trail race. Growing up, my parents used to bring us here on family ski weekends to stay at their favorite hotel and then drive to Mt. Bachelor for downhill or cross country skiing. It is also home to a huge quilt show, the Sisters Rodeo and epic views of the mountains.


While I'm quite the fan of cute touristy towns like this, there's one problem. Everything closes BY 5 pm, no matter what. The only businesses open that weren't restaurants, gas stations or grocery stores/markets were the liquor store and the bike shop that was open until 5:30 pm. We had watched my little brother's rugby game nearby and didn't get back to Sisters until 4:30 pm. After checking into our motel, we made it downtown just in time to find a lot of closed shops.

We brought Jonah Bell (our black lab) so we stayed in a dog friendly room. Just next door to us were two teams of Alaskan dog sled teams. It was so cool to see them all set up in line outside. Apparently the women leading the teams were taking the dogs on a two day dry land practice run. So cool!

We did find a few much needed mallets. I'm sure you could find use for one of these! ;)

Look, I found an outerwear model on the streets!

And an antique store that while closed, we could still browse at their goods.

My mom loves antiques.

Tricycle plant holders

She needed this old igloo water cooler, but no dice - closed.

Which color would you choose? Oh, and the hardware store was still open miraculously!

What about spitting on trails?

Three Creeks Brewing - our destination for dinner

Beer mugs!

Smiling seems hard when you need food.

Sitting in the bar side of restaurants always seems a bit cozier and fun.

Knotty Blonde for me, Porter for mom and Irish Stout for manfriend

I know you were hoping to find a race post, but I'll get to that. First, I had to show you how cute this little town is, especially after I took so many photos of it. But know this: I survived the 20 miler. Check back soon for more...

Where do you live? Could you/do you live in a small town like this? Sisters is only about 25 minutes from Bend, OR, a much larger, cooler city and is smack dab in the middle of a major highway so it's definitely easy to get other places.

I always say I wouldn't want to be more than 30 minutes from a large grocery store, mall, hospital, etc. I like people, community and staying in touch with what's happening in "the real world." And let's be honest, I like my shopping, racing and pedicures.

Comments

Amber said…
Awesome! Those cutesy towns are fun to visit but I don't think I would want to live in one.

I am anxiously waiting for your race report!!!!

PS: I seriously LOVE how your mom comes out for all your races! That is so awesome!
Anonymous said…
After we checked into our hotel on Saturday, it was about 4 pm and we had 2 hours to kill before dinner. We went downtown to browse as well, and were totally amazed that everything in a tourist town on a Saturday was closed. I did get to try on a few cowboy hats and a some western dresses.....!
siri said…
Lauren- you have described my (new) life story. Not a damn thing is open after 5 (not to mention EVERYTHING is closed on Sundays). You get used to it. You still hate it, but you get used to it. And you start to do other things than hang out the mall- like watch tv. And drink wine. Sometimes at the same time!

p.s. I love how you always tell us what flavor of micro brew you guys order. I'd totally order that knotty blonde too.
SO cute! trademark of a small town: the Antique store was closed but all the merchandise was out in the open. :) Very trusting.

I love to visit these places, but could never live there. I thrive off of walkability, people to see & things to do!
Gracie said…
Honestly I'm no good in small towns! I need to be in the city.
What a charming little town! But what a bummer that the shops were closed!

I am from a TINY town in North Dakota - population 500... Despite my small town roots, I somehow am a city girl... Def the most "city" of all of the kids in my family. But i do love going to my parents cabin in the summer - the wide open spaces and quaint town that is close by drop my blood pressure, I think. :)
Raquelita said…
It does seem really quaint! But having lived in a small town (think 300 people) for a couple of years, I wouldn't do it if I had much choice. I lived in cities for the past decade, so my current town of 50,000 seems really small and pretty uneventful.

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