Bend Departure

We've been busy! The Hancocks came to Bend, followed shortly thereafter by the Waddles. It's been fun having friends in the area.

The weather cooperated and we were able to have al fresco dinners with our friends. That was pretty cool being to sit outside and have cocktails and food.


Another cool thing in Bend was US Cycling racing. There was time trialing, road racing, and a criterium through downtown. I have to tell you, those people are not from the same end of the gene pool as me. They are fast.

One of the rides we did with the Hancocks was out of Sisters. It was just gorgeous up there. The next two photos were taken on that ride.

Then we had lunch in Sisters at a cafe whose name escapes me, but it was very nice. Sisters is just cuter than a bug. These are poppies in front of a store.

We were also able to do a car shuttle and park over on Hwy 46, and then start riding from Phil's trail head up beyond the Lower Whoops entrance to pick up the Storm King trail. It was (to use an over used word) awesome. Bend mountain biking has totally and completely exceeded expectations.

This is a wall behind the Old Mill shopping area in Bend. See the furry little creature? It's a marmot. Cute, just cuter than a bug. It's cool to see wild life in the city. The whole hill side is covered in wild flowers.


Today we were forced to leave Bend by our schedule. We miss Bend. We drove 97 up from Bend towards Ellensburg, it's very rural and nice to look at. Here are blue wild flowers.


This is on the road on the way down to the Columbia Gorge. Steep!

Wind turbines in Washington.

We're at the KOA in Ellensburg for an overnight. It's an ok park, our site (#63) is long enough and level enough that we were able to stay hooked to the truck. Jim put the satellite antenna on top of the truck so he didn't have to move the ladders, which he would have had to do if it went up on the roof. This is the Yakima river, which runs along the park boundary.

So, Bend is definitely on the list of places to which we shall return. The mountain biking is just superb. If you ride off road, you should ride in Bend. Bend is good. The jury is still out on Petaluma. It's a pain in the butt to get to, very expensive, and not as high on the fun-o-meter as it should be.