A Bite of Bend

Welcome to Oregon!

We stopped in Bend, OR for two nights to visit with my cousin, Becky, and her husband, Bob.  They have membership in a “ranch” RV park (Sundance Meadows) and we got to stay for free … yes, FREE!  We love the word “free”!  Especially when it’s not attached to spending the night at Wally’s World, I mean Wal-Mart!  Only 10 minutes from her home and then we were in the middle of the “wilderness”.  It was so quiet and peaceful.  On the over 700 acres they have a fishing pond (catch and release only), horseback riding stables, archery, indoor pool and Jacuzzi (it was closed for the season), community room with a kitchen for groups, a bunkhouse, cabins, full hook-up RV sites and so much more.  We hardly spent any time there, but it was an interesting place.  Here are some photos of the grounds that Gary took on some of his walks with Sadie.

 

We had a delightful time with my cousins.  They brought over dinner our arrival night which was such a blessing.  And then the next day we went on the whirlwind “Taste of Bend” tour with Becky as our tour guide.

In Bend, which is part of the Ring of Fire, there are a number of volcanic cinder cone buttes.  We drove (most people hike) to the top of Pilot Butte which rises 500’ above the surrounding city.  Bend is one of four cities in the United States to have a volcano within its boundaries—nice!  At the top you have a 360⁰ view of Bend and the Cascades including the Three Sisters.  In the Cascades, just about every hill you see is a volcano!

The Three Sisters are 10,000’ in elevation.  All three volcanoes have been dueling with glaciers.  Middle and North Sisters lost ground when they stopped erupting before the most recent ice age.  South Sister continues to rebuild herself with eruptions every several thousand years.

After our trip to Pilot Butte, we headed to the Deschutes River Trail which winds through pine forests, lava flows and riparian zones along the variously placid and tumultuous waters of the Deschutes River.  There are six different trail sections that you can hike, bike, run or walk, and I’m not sure exactly which section we did, but it was a lovely 3-mile hike that went down one side of the river, crossed over a bridge and then we walked back the other side, crossing back over another bridge.  We were accompanied by Becky’s 2-1/2 year old granddaughter, Alana, and her father.  I was very impressed that this 2-1/2 year old did most of the walk on her on two feet!  She was quite the trooper.

 

 

 

 

 

From the Deschutes River walk we drove to Dillon Falls.  With very little effort and a very short "hike" we were blessed with this beautiful cascading falls--Dillon Falls.



 

 

 

 My cousin, Becky, and her husband, Bob.

After our walk, we were hungry so we drove to a restaurant with a river view – it’s all about the river today!  Becky’s husband, Bob, met up with us there and even Sadie got to participate since we ate out on the patio—Bend is a very dog friendly city.

Thanks to my cousin, Becky and her husband, Bob, for their hospitality.  It was quite a day.  Bend is a beautiful city, and we had quite the taste of it, but just a small bite!

Psalm 34:8

O taste and see that the LORD is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!