Saturday Evening Post

Central Oregon is amazing. We started the day on Mt. Bachelor. We wanted to get the boys up there one more time before the ski season is over. There's still plenty of snow up there. 12 to 14 feet of it actually. But the owners of the resort ( Powdr Corp.) are being major butt-heads and are closing down much earlier than conditions warrant, much to the chagrin of us season pass holders. I definitely won't be buying passes again next year for the boys.

Anyhoo...so today at about 1:00 we're taking in the view from Mt Bachelor but ready to head for home because the lifts are shutting down. Alicia and I dropped the boys off and were back on the road by 2:00. Probably less than 45 minutes from Bend we reach the Prineville Reservoir. We were only there long enough to drive across its dam and begin our drive along the Crooked River. It was a beautiful drive! It's supposed to be an awesome river for fly fishing, and at several of the stops we made along its banks we did indeed see folks wetting their lines. The canyon that the river flows along is very dramatic. Its full name is the Lower Crooked Wild and Scenic River Chimney Rock Segment. The river has cut its way into this amazing basalt gorge with walls up to 600 feet high! I had that feeling again, like when we went to Lake Billy Chinook several weeks ago. A feeling like we had driven much farther from home. It was reminiscent of dramatic landscapes I've seen in Utah and parts of Yellowstone, and the sense of awe I normally associate with destinations I've reached while on vacation.

After leaving the canyon we drove through some very pastoral farmland and finally made our way into the city of Prineville. Heading maybe 15 minutes east of town we finally reached the far point of our trip at Ochoco Reservoir. We met up with some of Alicia's friends from work who were camping there. The campground was very green and nicely treed, and their campsites overlooked the lake. It was a very nice setting to enjoy the Subway sandwiches we had picked up earlier. So after a short visit we were back on the road again, taking a more direct route to make our way back to Bend. But even with all of our sightseeing we manged to get home with dinner for the kids by 7:00!

Sprung!

I know it's supposed to be the middle of spring, but today is one of the first days that really felt like it. Alicia and I took Shasta for a walk along the Mill A Loop which is a 1.1 mile loop along both sides of the Deschutes River in the Old Mill District. I was in shorts and a t-shirt, and when we started out into the wind my windbreaker seemed like a good idea, but coming back with the wind I got too warm and had to carry it the rest of the way. When we crossed the Les Schwab Amphitheater we let Shasta off leash so she could reach top speed for a minute. She always has a great time zooming across the grass there.

When we got home we sat on our front porch to soak up a bit of the afternoon sun. In this warm moment it was hard to remember or even imagine the snow and ice of January and February. As we sat on the porch I also inspected our newly discovered neighbors though binoculars. Although technically these neighbors were a type of squirrel they are much larger than the grey squirrels we have around the 'hood. Since we moved into the house in October we had never seen a Rock Chuck (Yellow-bellied Marmot) around Bend. Then last week we saw them in several locations around the city the same day , including the empty lots across from our house. In fact, today seemed like some sort of wildlife safari. We saw:

• A dozen or more deer across several locations in SW Bend.


• A woodpecker knocking on our neighbor's house under their eaves.


• A Steller's Jay and an American Robin (I think) at our feeder.


• Beautiful Violet-green Swallows flitting under the eaves of our house.


• Canadian geese eh, coots, black birds, and an assortment of ducks in the Old Mill District.

Seems like the only thing we didn't see were fish. Hmm....I think we've been here long enough to get our resident fishing licenses....

WIP

This post is a Work In Progress. I just wanted to get the photos posted from the day trip Alicia and I took yesterday, and then hopefully I'll get back in a few days to fill in the details.

The basic idea is that we drove up to the Cascade lakes on the opening day of fishing season. We didn't go to fish. We just went to visit the lakes because we've missed them. The majority of the lakes up there are still snowbound but we would take what we could get.




Our first stop was the resort at South Twin Lake, which was beautiful and verdant despite a bit of snow lingering on the southern shore.




Our next stop was the 10,000 acre Wickiup Reservoir, which after having just been at South Twin seemed incredibly vast. The handful of boats plying its surface each seemed to have a lake's worth of water to itself. Shasta certainly enjoyed swimming and wading at its shores.


Our last stop was North Twin Lake. Now North and South lakes are certainly very similar in size and shape, but if they're twins they're fraternal. The north lake's surface was still mostly covered in ice. In fact, if you listened closely you could hear a faint "eshhhh" coming from all the bits and pieces of ice as they mingled on the surface of the lake. It sounded a bit like someone turning slowly under the cover of crisp sheets. Maybe that was it. Maybe North had hit the snooze button a few more times than South and was just now stirring.


On the way home we stopped to take a look at the Fall River. It erupts from a spring, crystal clear, flows just seven miles, and then loses itself in the Deschutes. Even without a polarized lens of some sort you could see right to the bottom. At this stop we also had our first taste of mosquitoes (and one of them had their first taste of me). Time to start carrying repellent in the car.




Once we returned from the mountains we had just enough time to change our clothes and then we were off to McMennamins for a friend's birthday party. There were lots of friendly folks there, yummy appetizers, and free soda refills (whoo-hoo!) for us non-drinkers. The patio we were seated at was very pleasant but it was a bit on the cool side; probably in the thirties. Thankfully the waitstaff did a good job of keeping the fire pits stoked to keep the chill from setting in.

When the party finally broke up a few of us still wanted to chat so we wound up at The Blacksmith restaurant/bar/lounge. The six of us seemed to gravitate to the very comfy seating in their lounge. The atmosphere was very agreeable in a clever combination of trendy and rustic. We were considering ordering dessert but the hour being late they were no longer serving. I think we all managed to enjoy our alcholic beverage even without dessert. I'm determined to go back during their happy hour in hopes of finding a good deal on an appetizer or two. They call their food "new ranch cuisine" and I'm very intrigued by some of their menu items, like lobster corn dogs and "Cowboy Crostinis." Can't wait...

A Snow Show

I keep thinking I've seen the last of the snow and then it snows again. This is not a complaint. Even though I can't wait for the Cascade Lakes Highway to be clear of white stuff so we can get beyond Mt. Bachelor once again, I nonetheless will miss the snow falling in our neighborhood.

This latest dusting started late last night. When I went to bed I opened the blinds so that from my pillow I could watch it fall under the light of the streetlight. As I settled in for the silent display I could also hear a train blow its horn as it made its way through town. The tracks are just a couple of miles away. Just far enough to sound soft, even nostalgic. At less than half the distance the blare would likely be a burden. But tonight it's like being lulled to sleep by the slowing music of a windup snow globe.

A Good Day Solo

Today turned out to be a really nice day. Initially I had resigned myself to hanging out at home. The boys were playing on their computers and Alicia was feeling under the weather. The weather outdoors was also a bit on the cold side at 36º, with some sunshine but also the occasional outburst of snow. By mid-afternoon though I decided that I need to get outside and explore even if that meant doing it by myself.

I decided to go to Tumalo Falls. Alicia and I had gone there last Thanksgiving but only as far as the lower overlook.

We were very impressed by beautiful view it presented, but the turkey was in the oven and needed to get back to save it from burning. I thought this time I might hike the short trail to the brink viewpoint. Unfortunately the two dollars in gas I had invested in getting there was wasted because the gate was closed. Had I gotten there too late? Beats me. In my experience, most day-use areas are open until 10:00 so I don't know what the deal was.

As an alternate destination I decided to locate an area of whitewater called Big Eddy (pun intended I suspect). Big Eddy is a Class III rapid on the Deschutes River that I had heard about but never seen. Alicia and I had previously driven out Cascade Lakes Highway just past the Inn of the Seventh Mountain to see Dillon Falls and Benham Falls. I remember seeing the sign for Big Eddy but we didn't take the time to drive in and see it.

Shortly after turning off the highway today though, the first road I encountered lead to the Lava Island Falls trail head. I hadn't seen this area before either so I took the turn. The short drive to reach the river was well worth it.


I spent about an hour there taking pictures. It was near freezing but sunny and clear. The din of the falls was an inescapable but pleasant companion while I was there.

Finally I moved on down the road a bit to take a look at Eddy. From the river trail I found that there were really several rapids on this section of the Deschutes. I think I'll have to come back this summer, perhaps with Sun Country Tours, and take a raft trip on those rapids. At the very least it looked like it would be fun (and cheap) to just sit on the bank and watch other folks shoot by on their rafts.

All in all it was a great day of sightseeing on the river. On the way back I decided to pull off the road just after passing the Widgi Creek golf course, and take the road to the Meadow Picnic trail head. When I think of a picnic area I don't know that I expect much other than a pleasant setting and some picnic tables. I must say that even though I had just left some rather stunning sights just a few miles back, I was stunned yet again by the beautiful stretch of river that the picnic tables were set beside. Picnicking could be considered a form of meditation in a setting like this.

Well, seeing all that I saw certainly would have been enough to call the outing a success but I had one last stop to make as I got back into town. I thought that the localized sunshine we were receiving might make for some dramatic photos against the dark sky looming in the east, and I had a spot above Farewell Bend Park in mind that I had been trying to figure out how to reach. I finally found good walking access (along with three deer) from the driveway at the Pine Ridge Inn. When the conditions are right you can find some pretty dramatic scenery in your own back yard.

From the Center, Outward

I wish I had started this blog months ago when we first arrived in Bend. There have been many amazing moments in the not-quite six months that we've been here, and I regret that I did not capture them in a blog as they occurred. So I've decided that in addition to my intention to post on a regular basis going forward, I'm going to try and fill in some points on the timeline going the other direction as well. I appear to have taken somewhere between 600 and 700 pictures and videos since September so I'll use those as a catalyst for some of my memories.

The first picture I'll comment on is my "Profile" image. My son Erik actually took that one as the sun set somewhere in the central valley of California, mid-way in our 3 day drive to Bend. I remember actually feeling queasy at times when a wave of "what am I doing?" would wash over me. In the preceding 45 years I had never moved outside of San Diego County. Technically, Temecula was just over the border in Riverside County (still is for that matter), but between the time I spent at my job in San Diego and the time spent in my car commuting to/from that job, I was still a San Diegan for a good chunk of my week. So with our home sold behind us and just a hotel reservation ahead, it was a wee bit unsettling to say the least. Someday I'll write about what pushed me to move out of my comfort zone and into Central Oregon. I'll entitle the post "Homesick for a place I never lived."

A blog of a thousand pages begins with a single post.

And so it begins...

Shotgun!

Our neighbors are camping at Cove Palisades State Park at Lake Billy Chinook this summer and invited our family to join them (how nice is that!). We've never been to the campground or the lake, and it's only about an hour from the house, so Alicia and I decided to take a little drive and check it out.

Before we got on the road I wanted make a quick side trip to show her a neighborhood nearby called Deschutes River Woods where I had seen a nice log home while I was out exploring. The house looked to me like it was just being completed. Besides being a pretty home, it had what must have been a six or seven acre pond behind it! (You know what they say about location.) We pulled off the road beside the pond just to take it all in, and I happened to glance up and spot a bird circling a few hundred feet over our heads with a white tail and head. It was a bald eagle! I just happened to have my binoculars with me so Alicia and I got out of the car to take a look. We had planned on driving for an hour to do some sight seeing, and here we were not 3 miles from our house already seeing one heck of a good sight! Alicia was really tickled to see the bald eagle. This was the first time she had ever seen one in person.

With one good sight under our belts we set out to see a few more. About a half hour north of Bend we pulled off the highway at the Peter Skene Ogden Scenic Viewpoint. At the overlook you can see strait down the basalt cliffs, hundreds of feet to the Crooked River below. It was spectacular! I hope Peter Skene Ogden was traveling east or west and not north or south when he encountered this chasm or he would have been really bummed!

We finally made our way to the lake and ...oh...my...word. What a stunning place! The approach to the lake was much like the approach to the PSOS Viewpoint. It was very flat and there was no hint of the water or the canyon until you were practically on top of it. A short drive down a steep road and we were soon beside the water where the Crooked River had slowed and widened to become one arm of Lake Bill Chinook. We were also now looking up the vertical face of these amazing basalt cliffs. The overwhelming sensation that I had was that we were much farther away from home, perhaps in the middle of a vacation. It reminded me of Flaming Gorge Reservoir in Wyoming and Utah if you're familiar with that. While I was out of the car taking a picture Shasta called shotgun.

The campground itself is located on a strip of land between the Crooked River and Deschutes River arms of the lake. If you cross both of those rivers and keep going you eventually reach the Metolius River arm as well. I can't wait to go back. I'd better get those reservations made...

(Written 4/25/08 and back-dated)

On the Water!

We had a very nice spring-like day today. I've been dying to get out on the river so we rented a canoe. Kevin and I paddled from the Colorado St. bridge to the rocks just upstream from Farewell Bend Park. Shortly after starting our trip back we spotted Alicia and Shasta on a beach across from the park. Shasta couldn't wait for us to reach the beach so she swam out to greet us. Alicia and Kevin swapped places and Alicia and I paddled past the Healy bridge and back again. Kev and Alicia swapped places once again and then he and I paddles back to Alder Creek to return the canoe.

I'll have to keep my eye on Craigslist to see if somebody is looking to sell their canoe cheap. I'd love to have one to take up to the Cascade lakes when they re-open this spring. I keep hearing Hosmer is supposed to be a gorgeous lake for canoeing and kayaking. A couple of summers ago we paddled our inflatable kayak around Little Lava Lake when we camped there. The kayak was better than nothing but it's almost too small for two people now that the kids are adult-sized.