Tuesday
October 19
As usual we signed up for the early breakfast setting, which at the Lara was 8 am. I was told that I could come down earlier for coffee, so was there at about 7:30. That was sleeping in for me! One of the guys we had dinner with the night before had beat me to the paper, but he shared, and we had coffee together while our breackfast host, Linda, busied herself in the kitchen. Nancy came down about eight and breakfast started to appear shortly thereafter.
Our first goal of the day would be to head for Sisters, a small village west of Bend and up the foothills about 1000 ft higher in elevation. Sisters was famous for an annual quilt show in the summer which any experienced quilter knew was one of the top shows in the country. The quilt shop in Sisters was the driving force, and had put the little berg on the tourist map, at least as far as quilters were concerned!
We got there just before 10 am and stopped at a small bakery/coffee shop which had an espresso machine. Nancy, of course, had a double cappachino!! The village was quaint and touristy, with "country" style facades on most of the shops along the street, designed to snag people traveling the main highway as they passed by. The main street was the highway from Bend west over the mountains terminating at Salem, about 100 miles away, or with a turn to the south at a scenic mountain junction with another highway up the road, to Eugene to the southwest.
The quilt store was open, and as we entered we both were "dazzled" at the size of the store and the many quilts hanging high on the walls above display racks of fabrics, yarns and quilting paraphinalia! I took some pictures, and thought that Nancy would be spending a couple hours in this place. She thought so too! So I decided to take a walking tour around the village.
Most of the shops on the main street were closed. Maybe it was because it was the off season for tourists, or perhaps they had restricted hours this time of the year. There was an antique shop that was open. I walked through and decided that most of the "antiques" were really reproductions and oriented to the tourist trade. I walked a block off the main drag and found a fly fishing shop and went in to browse. As I entered I was greeted by two golden setters, one old, and one young, probably father and son. The smiled with wagging tails, did their required sniffs of my shoes and pants while I scratched their ears, and then plopped down in their customary "spots" to wait for their next customer. There were three guys in a back room sitting around talking about steelhead fishing. I was standing in front of a bullitin board filled with pictures of big steelhead held aloft by smiling fisherman, no doubt caught by flies bought at this shop!! The condition of the Deshutes River's water flow was also posted showing the pattern on a daily basis for the last few weeks. None of the guys paid much attention to me, probably figuring that if I needed something I would holler! Either that, or they had properly identified me as a bait fisherman and were going to do their best to shun me! I wandered through the shop impressed by their stock of flyfishing equipment, and wondering why a flyfishing rod should cost from $350 and up to rather impressive amounts. Back at home I had a couple of old glass fly rods in the garage, which would probably work OK, and might have cost 10-20 bucks at most when they were new. But that was 40 years ago, and they were not made of graphite composites! I expect that if I become a serious fly fisherman in the future, there would be a graphite rod and high priced reel on my must have list, even though it probably would not catch anything more than the old ones in my garage. Flyfishing! One of the dream reasons for moving to the Bend area. As I left the shop, the dogs had managed to escape and were flopped on the ground just outside. They beat their tails on the ground waving bye-bye, bye-bye as I passed.
Next door to the fly shop there was a thrift shop run by a local charitible organization. Who knew what treasures I would find there! There were 3-4 other smart shoppers at this early hour of the day, searching through clothes racks and setting aside bargains in a small pile to be considered for purchase. I certainly didn't need anything, but it was a bit chilly outside, and at higher altitudes there had been snow, so I started to look through the rack with coats. I saw a nice blue golf jacket with lettering on it that said "River's Edge", and recognized it as a jacket from one of the golf resorts in Bend. It was nice! It fit perfectly! It was $8! What a bargain! ($75-85 new?) It was my only purchase on the trip! I wear it all the time!!
My next stop was a real estate office across the street from the quilt shop. I chatted with a Realtor about the Sisters area, and was a bit surprised at the cost of real estate in Sisters. I thought it seemed a bit more expensive than Bend. She gave me a list of what was available and I thanked her for her time. (I didn't tell her I was also a realtor from San Diego, lest she might think me snooty!)
I had done pretty good with the two hours, so headed to the quilt shop to pick up Nancy. She was almost ready. One of the quilt shop gals pointed me to a sofa and some magazines! I could tell they knew how to handle waiting husbands! Nancy had a successful 2 hours and emerged with a big bagfull of fabrics to add to her collection.
We had decided to take a scenic loop tour through the area south of Sisters that would take 3-4 hours according to our guide book. The guide said that some of roads would be closed due to snow during the winter months. While there had been recent snow, it had only amounted to a few inches and we presumed the roads would all be open, so we took off on the route. The road south mostly followed the McKenzie River, which originated at a small crystal clear lake, just off the road a few miles south of Sisters. We stopped at the resort on the lake. It was closed at this time of the year, but was very picturesque and was surely solidly booked during the summer months. (I seem to remember that it was called Clear Lake-very appropriate!)
The McKenzie at its source was not a big river, but was fast flowing as it tumbled down the rocks through its gorge. There were three waterfalls with parking and access from the road that were 60 or so ft high along the route. We stopped at each and hiked the riverbank to take advantage of the views and the photo-ops. We passed campgrounds which while open, were mostly empty. Sometimes we saw a few RVs out in the woods--cold weather campers! We reached a junction and turned onto a small "scenic" drive which led us upward in elevation. We passed a gate with a sign which said "closed due to snow". It was still open, so on we went!! Our guidebook indicated there were two waterfalls of interest coming up which required a loop hike of about 1 1/2 miles. When we got to the falls parking area there was another couple looking at the map information board. We took off on the trail. They must of decided the hike was not for them since we didn't see them again. Lazy, I guess. I wondered how much they must miss on their trips? We hiked over 2 big lava flows. The forest was very quiet! We didn't even see or hear any birds on our hike! I told Nancy that there were no birds because of the bears!! Then I made growls as I followed a ways behind her! Juvenile behavior! The falls were not the result of rivers, but from springs high on the bluffs, and fell over 100 ft to the valley floor. By this time on our trip we had seen alot of water cascading down from great heights! We were tough to impress! But it was a nice hike!
Back in the car, we continued to climb in elevation, and soon there was about 4-6" inches of snow along the road. We could see where the plows had furrowed the snow off to the side a day before. As we wound up to a higher elevation we popped out of the forest into a lunarlike sea of lava flows covering miles in all directions. It was a black and white landscape with the basalt rock partially covered with snow, leading up to the surrounding fully snow blanketed peaks of the Cascade range. McKenzie pass was at the peak of the road and was over 7000ft high! The road was cut through lava fields and in the center of it all at the highest elevation was a tourist stop with an observation tower called the "Observatory". It was built of lava rock by the CCC back in the 1930s. Stairs of lava rock led up to the top where a large compass disk of metal about 3-4 ft wide was embedded in rock in the center. It was engraved to show the names of the various peaks in each compass direction from Mt Bachelor to the south, to Mt Hood to the north, and all the Seven Sisters peaks between. Under the observation deck was a large room with small window slots, each marked with the name of the peak that one could view by looking through the slot. It was like a fort turret with gun slots aimed at the various mountains. The views certainly emphasized the volcanic nature of the cascade range!!
Leaving the observatory, we wound down the mountain, and soon were out of the snow and into the forested area leading back towards Sisters. It was late in the afternoon, and time to head back to the 2$chuck (Charles Shaw wine, ($1.99) courtesy of Trader Joe's) and afternoon snacks at the Lara B&B to tell everyone about our very successful tourist day. When we got back, I hooked up the laptop, checked my email, and downloaded my pictures from the digital camera. Bobye took a look at some of them and said that it looked like we had a great day. (Probably really just another day in Bend to a long time resident!)
That night we decided to have a casual dinner and headed for the Dechutes Brewery, which was a hot spot downtown with the younger crowd, specializing in beer and ale of course, along with pub type food offerings. It was a busy, noisy place, with sports TV, and young waiters and waitresses toting trays of brews. Both of us ordered a sandwich basket which included fries, along with one of the Dechute Brewery's best ales, and enjoyed the scene!!
It was another crisp night for the walk back to the Lara. It was still early enough to sit and watch a bit of TV in the downstairs sunroom before heading up the stairs about 10 to cozy under the comforter for the night.
Our plan for the next day was for each of us to go our own way for most of the day, and have a "personal" day, just for ourselves!
October 19
As usual we signed up for the early breakfast setting, which at the Lara was 8 am. I was told that I could come down earlier for coffee, so was there at about 7:30. That was sleeping in for me! One of the guys we had dinner with the night before had beat me to the paper, but he shared, and we had coffee together while our breackfast host, Linda, busied herself in the kitchen. Nancy came down about eight and breakfast started to appear shortly thereafter.
Our first goal of the day would be to head for Sisters, a small village west of Bend and up the foothills about 1000 ft higher in elevation. Sisters was famous for an annual quilt show in the summer which any experienced quilter knew was one of the top shows in the country. The quilt shop in Sisters was the driving force, and had put the little berg on the tourist map, at least as far as quilters were concerned!
We got there just before 10 am and stopped at a small bakery/coffee shop which had an espresso machine. Nancy, of course, had a double cappachino!! The village was quaint and touristy, with "country" style facades on most of the shops along the street, designed to snag people traveling the main highway as they passed by. The main street was the highway from Bend west over the mountains terminating at Salem, about 100 miles away, or with a turn to the south at a scenic mountain junction with another highway up the road, to Eugene to the southwest.
The quilt store was open, and as we entered we both were "dazzled" at the size of the store and the many quilts hanging high on the walls above display racks of fabrics, yarns and quilting paraphinalia! I took some pictures, and thought that Nancy would be spending a couple hours in this place. She thought so too! So I decided to take a walking tour around the village.
Most of the shops on the main street were closed. Maybe it was because it was the off season for tourists, or perhaps they had restricted hours this time of the year. There was an antique shop that was open. I walked through and decided that most of the "antiques" were really reproductions and oriented to the tourist trade. I walked a block off the main drag and found a fly fishing shop and went in to browse. As I entered I was greeted by two golden setters, one old, and one young, probably father and son. The smiled with wagging tails, did their required sniffs of my shoes and pants while I scratched their ears, and then plopped down in their customary "spots" to wait for their next customer. There were three guys in a back room sitting around talking about steelhead fishing. I was standing in front of a bullitin board filled with pictures of big steelhead held aloft by smiling fisherman, no doubt caught by flies bought at this shop!! The condition of the Deshutes River's water flow was also posted showing the pattern on a daily basis for the last few weeks. None of the guys paid much attention to me, probably figuring that if I needed something I would holler! Either that, or they had properly identified me as a bait fisherman and were going to do their best to shun me! I wandered through the shop impressed by their stock of flyfishing equipment, and wondering why a flyfishing rod should cost from $350 and up to rather impressive amounts. Back at home I had a couple of old glass fly rods in the garage, which would probably work OK, and might have cost 10-20 bucks at most when they were new. But that was 40 years ago, and they were not made of graphite composites! I expect that if I become a serious fly fisherman in the future, there would be a graphite rod and high priced reel on my must have list, even though it probably would not catch anything more than the old ones in my garage. Flyfishing! One of the dream reasons for moving to the Bend area. As I left the shop, the dogs had managed to escape and were flopped on the ground just outside. They beat their tails on the ground waving bye-bye, bye-bye as I passed.
Next door to the fly shop there was a thrift shop run by a local charitible organization. Who knew what treasures I would find there! There were 3-4 other smart shoppers at this early hour of the day, searching through clothes racks and setting aside bargains in a small pile to be considered for purchase. I certainly didn't need anything, but it was a bit chilly outside, and at higher altitudes there had been snow, so I started to look through the rack with coats. I saw a nice blue golf jacket with lettering on it that said "River's Edge", and recognized it as a jacket from one of the golf resorts in Bend. It was nice! It fit perfectly! It was $8! What a bargain! ($75-85 new?) It was my only purchase on the trip! I wear it all the time!!
My next stop was a real estate office across the street from the quilt shop. I chatted with a Realtor about the Sisters area, and was a bit surprised at the cost of real estate in Sisters. I thought it seemed a bit more expensive than Bend. She gave me a list of what was available and I thanked her for her time. (I didn't tell her I was also a realtor from San Diego, lest she might think me snooty!)
I had done pretty good with the two hours, so headed to the quilt shop to pick up Nancy. She was almost ready. One of the quilt shop gals pointed me to a sofa and some magazines! I could tell they knew how to handle waiting husbands! Nancy had a successful 2 hours and emerged with a big bagfull of fabrics to add to her collection.
We had decided to take a scenic loop tour through the area south of Sisters that would take 3-4 hours according to our guide book. The guide said that some of roads would be closed due to snow during the winter months. While there had been recent snow, it had only amounted to a few inches and we presumed the roads would all be open, so we took off on the route. The road south mostly followed the McKenzie River, which originated at a small crystal clear lake, just off the road a few miles south of Sisters. We stopped at the resort on the lake. It was closed at this time of the year, but was very picturesque and was surely solidly booked during the summer months. (I seem to remember that it was called Clear Lake-very appropriate!)
The McKenzie at its source was not a big river, but was fast flowing as it tumbled down the rocks through its gorge. There were three waterfalls with parking and access from the road that were 60 or so ft high along the route. We stopped at each and hiked the riverbank to take advantage of the views and the photo-ops. We passed campgrounds which while open, were mostly empty. Sometimes we saw a few RVs out in the woods--cold weather campers! We reached a junction and turned onto a small "scenic" drive which led us upward in elevation. We passed a gate with a sign which said "closed due to snow". It was still open, so on we went!! Our guidebook indicated there were two waterfalls of interest coming up which required a loop hike of about 1 1/2 miles. When we got to the falls parking area there was another couple looking at the map information board. We took off on the trail. They must of decided the hike was not for them since we didn't see them again. Lazy, I guess. I wondered how much they must miss on their trips? We hiked over 2 big lava flows. The forest was very quiet! We didn't even see or hear any birds on our hike! I told Nancy that there were no birds because of the bears!! Then I made growls as I followed a ways behind her! Juvenile behavior! The falls were not the result of rivers, but from springs high on the bluffs, and fell over 100 ft to the valley floor. By this time on our trip we had seen alot of water cascading down from great heights! We were tough to impress! But it was a nice hike!
Back in the car, we continued to climb in elevation, and soon there was about 4-6" inches of snow along the road. We could see where the plows had furrowed the snow off to the side a day before. As we wound up to a higher elevation we popped out of the forest into a lunarlike sea of lava flows covering miles in all directions. It was a black and white landscape with the basalt rock partially covered with snow, leading up to the surrounding fully snow blanketed peaks of the Cascade range. McKenzie pass was at the peak of the road and was over 7000ft high! The road was cut through lava fields and in the center of it all at the highest elevation was a tourist stop with an observation tower called the "Observatory". It was built of lava rock by the CCC back in the 1930s. Stairs of lava rock led up to the top where a large compass disk of metal about 3-4 ft wide was embedded in rock in the center. It was engraved to show the names of the various peaks in each compass direction from Mt Bachelor to the south, to Mt Hood to the north, and all the Seven Sisters peaks between. Under the observation deck was a large room with small window slots, each marked with the name of the peak that one could view by looking through the slot. It was like a fort turret with gun slots aimed at the various mountains. The views certainly emphasized the volcanic nature of the cascade range!!
Leaving the observatory, we wound down the mountain, and soon were out of the snow and into the forested area leading back towards Sisters. It was late in the afternoon, and time to head back to the 2$chuck (Charles Shaw wine, ($1.99) courtesy of Trader Joe's) and afternoon snacks at the Lara B&B to tell everyone about our very successful tourist day. When we got back, I hooked up the laptop, checked my email, and downloaded my pictures from the digital camera. Bobye took a look at some of them and said that it looked like we had a great day. (Probably really just another day in Bend to a long time resident!)
That night we decided to have a casual dinner and headed for the Dechutes Brewery, which was a hot spot downtown with the younger crowd, specializing in beer and ale of course, along with pub type food offerings. It was a busy, noisy place, with sports TV, and young waiters and waitresses toting trays of brews. Both of us ordered a sandwich basket which included fries, along with one of the Dechute Brewery's best ales, and enjoyed the scene!!
It was another crisp night for the walk back to the Lara. It was still early enough to sit and watch a bit of TV in the downstairs sunroom before heading up the stairs about 10 to cozy under the comforter for the night.
Our plan for the next day was for each of us to go our own way for most of the day, and have a "personal" day, just for ourselves!
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