Bend Riverside Motel Suites

We drive alongside the Clackamas River, so beautiful we run out of adjectives as we point out to each other the views we want to share. Driving up towards the Cascades we see Mt. Hood in the distance, alone and majestic. At 4800 feet we drive through Santiam Pass and start the long road down, final destination Bend. We set up camp in Tumalo State Park. It is the weekend, there are so many people in the state parks we pass, we decide to stay two nights right here.

We decided to spend the night in Bend and found a place to stay online before we left our Hampton Inn. Stopped by Costco (again!) to gas up before we left town, then took highway 84 West past the Columbia River, Mt. Hood, and a huge re-planted forest from the Patterson exit. On 97 South we were on the Scenic Byway Journey Through Time. We passed the Moro State High Football Champs notice, then in Grass Valley (a tiny ...

We stopped in La Pine and walked.

We stopped in the Volcanic Monument.

We walked on the Lava Fields.

We drove through Bend, Redmond & Madras.

Past Warm Springs, the car overheated and we pulled over.

We waited for the car to cool down.

We, slowly, drove up the mountain to Timberline Lodge on Mount Hood.

We went to the Crook County Museum.

We drove north into the Ochoco's.

We went to the Painted Hills, John Day Fossil Beds.

We drove through Mitchell and failed to find food.

We drove through Dayville and failed to find food.

We had food in Mt. Vernon.

We drove down the S. Fork of the John Day river and slept near Izee.

We drove to Bend.

We drove up Pilot Butte.

We walked around Drake Park and Bend downtown.

We went to a comic shop.

We had tea at Townshend's.

We met my old friends and walked to Old Mill district.

We ate American Chinese food.

We watched a cinema.

We drove back to Prineville.

We had a couple family dinner's.

We walked around Prineville.

We went to the court-house.

We went to the round-up at the park.

We sat in the yard and watched 4th of July fireworks.

We drove up to the Prineville Reservoir and watched deer.

We traveled to Bend intermittently.

... central Oregon. We stayed with our good friends, Lynn and Scott, who were just the best hosts anyone could ask for! Some photos of the great rock climbing area. We had great weather which was a real treat after some of the climbing we were enduring in Peru! Driving to Smith Rock. We scored some beautiful views of Mt Hood ...

... in the winter, and mountain biking in the summer. Shane and Julie played hookey the next day to escort us up to the mountain, where we once again strapped on some skis to try out the Oregon winter sport scene. After an afternoon of skiing we headed back to town to collect our westy, say our goodbye's and head once again for the Oregon coast to continue our path north.

next it was off to Bend. it's a country road, that is for sure. along the way, saw some controlled fires. it was nighttime, so that's really the only interesting thing i saw... except that one could tell that the soil along the sides of the road was reddish. that was cool. Oregon has volcanos (volcanoes?) maybe it's cos of that. well the main reason for this trip was the 50th birthday party of one of my clients/friends, David. David used to live in ...

... skiing Mt. Bachelor. Now we are camping in Sisters, a "cowboy" town with many interesting shops, fun restaurants, and terrific views of the Three Sisters mountains. Tomorrow we'll head back to a veterinary stop in Bend for a quick check of Lexi's kidney function, and then we plan to head toward the Oregon coast and start working our way north again. Happy Trails to all, and have a wonderful Memorial Day!