The ending of an era..

So long Crooked River Ranch house.

A few years ago, my mother sold her cabin on Lake Shasta. Her and my stepdad had owned the place for nearly 15 years. From our homes, it is roughly a 7 hour drive. You can not get to the cabin by car, so then you have to take the boat across the lake to it. It was magical. But all good things come to an end. With all the children married, and small children. It was hard for people to visit, and with the excessive wildlife in the area, it wasnt safe for small children either.

Nothing fancy, but we loved the Shasta cabin!

Some of my best memories at the lake were with this girl!

My husband decided he needed a Shasta-Stache each year.. and they always were creepier and creepier!

I was the only one who made it down there the last couple years they owned it. I would take my boys, and stay for the week. The perks of being a stay at home mom. If they were there, I could just head on down. It was sad to see it go, with so many memories.

The only time at Shasta where it rained the ENTIRE week!

The upside, they were in the process of buying a vacation home in Central Oregon. My dad lives over there, so this would offer us a place to stay near by. Plus, most Oregonians LOVE Central Oregon. It is dry there. I always say that it either sun or snow. Which is very much opposite of the valley.

Oddly, out of the 4 children, I was really the only person who used the house. This baffles me. A free vacation home to stay in. There was hiking, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, a pool, the property was great, and shopping near by. Plus, the weather was nearly always good!

So over the last few years, myself, friends, and my family would frequent the house. Stay for a week or a weekend. Some amazing memories were made there. My husband had always said, if your parents ever sell, we need to buy this place! Well they put it up for sale, and we are not buying it.

Partially because the money we have, we rather put into other investments. The other part is, Hawaii. Since they bought the place in Hawaii (which oddly is cheaper each month than this house), we realized that is where we belong. What is the point in having a second house in Oregon, if we plan on moving away?

Despite it all, it doesnt make it any easier to say good bye. With in 24 hours on the market (which mind you is not that great right now), they had several cash offers. The buyer wanted a fast close, so here we are days later.. a trailer full of stuff, headed back to the valley. The house is cleared of all our belongings, and the only thing that remains is memories left in place.

I thought saying good by to Shasta was hard, but this is so much harder! It was my second home, my happy place. Where I went to get away from it all, and just relax. Being there offered us that oppertunity. To really disconnect. Plus, we had some of the best neighbors you could ever ask for!

So, here is an ending to an era. Holding tight to our memories of the time we enjoyed at Crooked River Ranch.

Now for Hawaii....