I’ve always been attracted to Oregon…
mostly for it’s coastal beauty…but I had never been to Eastern Oregon. The beauty here rivals that of the hight mountain deserts of Colorado. A place near and dear to my heart where I spent 25 yrs of my life. It’s just gorgeous there and here!
We were so hoping to see some of the nearby falls…
but soon realized that this time of the year there is still a lot of snow up in the mountains. In fact, our first week here…it snowed a couple of times and our water line froze! Yep, it was our first “winter” experience with our Luna Bella. Good thing Doug planned ahead and we had our heated hose to hook up. So needless to say our first week wasn’t all that exciting, but as the days got hotter…we started exploring the places that weren’t still under snow…
Our first stop was a hike to the falls…
yay, there was at least one fall we could see, Benham Falls, since all the others were still not accessible due to snow packed roads. This was a fun hike through the forests and along the river…there was plenty of trail left to hike but I developed edema in my lower legs…a side effect of my new medication so I had to take it easy.
Due to school and work…we are weekend explorers. The following weekend we took a hike along Fall River…it was a pleasant trail along the river, the smell of the pine woods were amazing…so reminded me of growing up in the Jersey Pine Barrens and of course the forests in Colorado. Once again my edema flared up. Needless
to say, this developed into a much more severe reaction as it became a daily flare up whether or not I was on my feet most of the day.
I ended up with petechiae and purpura rashes as well. I was able to manage the edema by creating an essential oil blend with my doTERRA oils. The edema went down within seconds as I started regaining my range of motion. Of course I didn’t let this stop me 😉
The next day’s hike was amazing…
and incredibly challenging…we went to Smith Rock and hiked along the river and over the ridge. I was longing to hike the way I was used to in back in Colorado. I have climbed many 14ers while living there, even when the kids were young I would trek on up and camp up in those amazing mountains practically every weekend. Granted being older has it’s limitations but the meds I was currently on didn’t make it any easier.
Our plan was to hike back and forth along the river but I wanted a 
challenged and I took on Misery Ridge…man or man was that a heck of a hike but we all enjoyed it and it felt like a great accomplishment for me. Not to mention the views were breath taking.
We still want to explore more…but our time here is coming to an end…Thursday we head out to Salem for my little one’s Spring Celebration…end of the year Carnival! Regarding my meds…after discussing with my doc I’m off of them now. I’m planning on managing my health through making better food choices, daily walks and taking doTERRA Life Long Vitality supplements…hoping to see some good results.