Sleep Inn Bend

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.

... some recent snow! What a peak! Smith Rock and the Crooked Rock in all its glory. Our good friend Dave Snow came down to join us for the weekend! Dave and Ben worked together at Microsoft (in the Education Products Group) and have been climbing together since. Dave grew up in Washington and knows the local areas like no other ...

... off. Avis and Andy (see the Tahoe entry) had been kind enough to put us in touch with friends of theirs who live in Bend, Oregon. Late in the afternoon we made it to Bend and to the home of Shane and Julie. Drinks and dinner ensued, and we learned about life in Bend. It's a tough life. A 20 minute drive to the nearest ski slope for downhill and cross country ...

... into the road, grabbed the turtle and ran to the other side of the road. He was about a foot long and was crossing from a pond on one side of the road to the a pond on the other side. My favorite part was that he turned his head back to look at me as I snatched him from imminent death and gave me a look that said - 'hey chick, what are you doing? I'm trying to cross the road here!' Welcome back to Oregon. :)

... at Diamond Lake just a few miles from Crater Lake for the night. We got the campsite situated and then drove into Crater Lake National Park and made the rim loop around the entire park, which took about 2 hours or so. Since we had been here 12 years ago we didn't go into the gift shop or visitor center this time. July 6 - Drove about an hour and stopped at Joseph Stewart State Park about an hour away ...