To Bend

After somewhat of a late start this morning Sarah and I headed down to Bend for a weekend away. Our first stop was at Sarah's mom's house. We dropped off some lavender Sarah bought for her a couple weekends ago and ate a little lunch before the final leg of today's journey began. We took Hwy 26 from Gresham, OR toward and over Mt. Hood. The views of the mountain were beautiful but no sooner than we thought we'd be skiing the slopes did we see it in our rear view mirror as we headed downhill toward the eastern side of the state. At one point the Cascade forest split away to reveal a slightly rolling and sparsely vegetated landscape that is eastern Oregon. We drove into a couple vallies where buttes of basalt bordered the sky and were a lone river was the only blue to be had nearer the ground. We also spied a few mountains not normally in our view: Jefferson, the Three Sisters, and Mt. Bachelor (although I don't quite recall where the latter one was).

Once we got to Bend we checked in to our room at the local McMenamin's Old St. Francis School. The place is really impressive and has been decorated well. Since dinner time was upon us we met up with Mandy and Terry and had some dinner in the pub then headed out for a walk around downtown Bend. There are tons of nice shops and places to eat as well as a beautiful city park that follows a lazy part of the Deschutes river. It was a beautiful night that we wound down with a drink outside back at McMenamin's and a soak Sarah and I enjoyed in the Turkish-style pool. The open room was a great touch where we could see some stars and enjoy a cool breeze blowing over our warmed bodies.

We head out for a guided tour of some local ancient volcanoes then on to Crater Lake.

Comments (3) | To Top

7/28/2005 @ 7:11am

Eh, late starts are quite alright in my book. Means you weren't ready to go yet, that's all!

by Dave

7/28/2005 @ 7:23am

Thanks for the positive re-enforcement, Dave. I'm a pretty punctual person and late starts don't suit me well. I do, however, try and keep my cool when it's a vacation wherein relaxation is the key.

by KevinFreitas

7/28/2005 @ 7:44am

Picture #8: (From left to right) is Broken Top and The Three Sisters (Faith, Hope & Charity). Bachelor is south of Broken Top a little further. It sits away from the four mountains a bit - perhaps that is how is got it's name...

Cheers to a great, relaxing visit in Central Oregon!

by Mandy