Metolius River Resort Sisters

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 took a quick break, then arrived at the fairly rustic Riverhouse Resort for dinner and lodging. They upgraded our room to a "jacuzzi suite (though it wasn't one you'd want to use) and were kind to give us a bottle of champagne to celebrate our 14th anniversary. We took a drink coupon and had a great meal of filet mignon in the restaurant, overlooking the Deschutes River and, somewhat later, the full moon.

Bend, Oregon, United States lisajagmin

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 arose at 3:40am to catch our flight home from Quito, arriving in Seattle 13 hours later. Jet lagged but eager to begin phase two of our trip, we raced through two and a half days of logistics in Seattle and embarked on the open roads of the west, our GMC Jimmy loaded down with food and climbing gear. For those dear friends we ...

As we crossed over the mountains moving East from Eugene we hit lots of snow, which cleared once we made it over the pass. This would become a common theme in our many trips back and forth over the rocky (and associated) mountain ranges. We luckily had picked up a new set of tires and some snow chains in Eugene, which we were forced to employ only an hour after we ...

... flank both sides of the road. I stop at various small sights along the way, and eventually come to route 262 that leads up over the mountains. Unfortunately the sign says that the road is closed at the gate halfway up. Well, after all that I'm pretty annoyed that the road is closed. The road IS supposed to be closed 8 months out of the year because of snow on the mountain, but August is in the prime OK ...

The central Oregon area around Bend is so interesting and beautiful that we stayed a couple of more days in the nearby town of Sisters. We took Lexi to a veterinary clinic in Bend for follow-up blood tests. Happily, her reports came back normal, so we treated her to a visit to the local dog park. We also spent a couple hours at the High Desert Museum in Bend, a fascinating museum that features ...

... very proud of their museums and churches, which you can see throughout the city. Walking around the "Zocolo", or center of the city, you will see a huge plaza of cobblestone ground, circled by giant ancient buildings and a cathedral. The history is shocking. When the zocolo was built, only the elite pure blood Spaniards could enter this central circle of buildings. The outer circle surrounding could only be entered by half bloods, half indian and half spanish. The ...

... at this cool Indian restaurant before falling asleep to the Frest Prince of Bel Air! I spent the following nights in a hostel not to far from downtown Portland. It was my first hostel and pretty good - alot of old people though... business men from outta town trying to save a buck. They were interesting. I ventured over to the Lloyd Center and gave into the digital age and bought myself a camera! It's pretty flash bang ...

... couple of Matts mates that he had met on the internet (no, not THAT sort), they have their own travel website www.bootsnall.com - its a great site full of everything you need to know about travelling anywhere and everywhere, go on it, its great! Good enough plug chaps?! On the bus on the way to theirs we finally saw our first proper fat Americans! These guys were so fat they made Michelle McManus look like Paula Radcliffe! That ...