Sunriver Resort is located in central Oregon and it is about 20 minutes South of Bend. Sunriver Resort got its name from Sun River that runs through the resort. Sunriver resort is a very popular place for people in Oregon since it is close to Mount Bachelor's and also provide numerous activities. For people from Portland, it takes about 4 hours of drive. It could take longer during the winter season due to the road condition.
We left around 10am in the morning to head to Sunriver Resort. It is a partially cloudy day, but at least it is not snowing. When we got to Mount Hood, the snow was not completely removed and there were still snow and ice on the road. For some part of the road, the road was completed covered by snow and ice. We brought the snow chain but chose to not to put it on since the road condition was still fine; however, we did drive slower than usual.
When we go to Sunriver Resort, it was around 2pm and we were not able to check in yet. We went to Sunriver Village to walk around and shop around there. Sunriver Village is very close to the resort and it is within the walking distance. 30 minutes later, the resort texted us to tell us that the room is ready.
Each room is located at the first floor or second floor of the cabin. Each cabin has around 6 rooms. Every room has an outdoor balcony and a fire place. I really like the fire place because it has a timer on it. So if you want, you can set the timer and leave the fire place on when you go sleep. One thing that I really don't like is the free Wi-Fi that the resort offered. The Wi-Fi is extremely slow and sometimes you cannot even connect to it. When I wanted to check on important emails, I had to go to Sunriver Village to use the Wi-Fi there. This is really something that the resort needs to improve on.
On the second day, we drove to Mount Bachelors. It is only about 20 minutes away. We did not ski this time and we chose to do snow tubing. Snow tubing at Mount Bachelors is amazing. The tubing hill is way larger than the ones that I have been to! When we were there, there were not that many people doing snow tubing. Thus we were able to do multiple snow tubing runs. In the afternoon, we went to do some snow shoeing around Mount Bachelor. This was our first time doing snow shoeing and were not very experienced with it. We originally wanted to walk to Lake Todd, but it was still few miles away and we decided to head back before the sun goes down.
When we got back to the resort, we went to the back side of the resort and had a walk there. The back side of the resort is a golf course during the summer. People at resort and play golf and rent bike to bike around. The sun set scenery is really amazing here.
At night, the resort turned on the Christmas lights and it was awesome. The Christmas light was essentially on every single tree in front of the main resort building. The resort also had several big pine trees with Christmas lights on. Although the weather is freezing at night, it was an amazing experience to have a walk among the trees with Christmas lights on.
On the third day when we head back to Portland, it was snowing on Mount Hood and the road condition was bad. Fresh snow has covered the road and snow chain is required. As we tried to put on the snow chain, we found out that the snow chain we have does not fit for the tire of my car! It was too small! We had a drive through the snowy mountain road without the chain for about an hour. Fortunately we had an SUV with four wheel drive and made it out safely.
In general, it was a great experience! Just make sure you wear warm clothing and make sure you have snow chain with you!
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