July 4-5, 2013
We drove from Crater Lake to
Bend, Oregon this morning. We took a detour to the Newberry National Volcano
Monument in the Deschutes National Forest. We got tickets to drive up Lava
Butte. It is a cinder cone located just south of Bend, Oregon. The cinder cone at
elevation 5020 feet is capped by a crater that is 60 feet deep beneath its
south rim and 160 feet deep from the summit on its north side. Geologists date
the volcanic activity to almost 7,000 years ago.
I believe this mountain is Mount Thielson
to the south, just north of Crater Lake
I believe this mountain is the Three
Sisters to the north.
The butte was used as a forest
service lookout station in 1928
The view from Lava Butte looking
north toward Bend with the brown hill to the left called Pilot Butte where the
city will set off the 4th of July fireworks that night!
Lava fields
Ground squirrel at Lava Butte who
has very curious even with Chance in the car!
We once again wished we could do
the Lava River Caves here but it was too hot to leave Chance in the car.
We ate lunch at Pine Tavern, established
in 1936 and was a great depiction of the character of Bend.
There
are 2 huge pine trees growing in the middle of the restaurant
The patio was packed on this
gorgeous day on Mirror Pond
We took Chance for a walk. A pet
parade had just finished that morning for the 4th of July so there were
kids, dogs and fun activities all over.
Mirror Pond
There were some gorgeous houses
on Mirror Pond & the Deschutes River. We lusted after how they can simply
get home from work and drop their kayak in straight from their own backyard.
One day, one day…
Chance got a real feel and taste
for Mirror Pond & the Deschutes River.
I got to say it was really hot
for the 4th. I can’t blame her for getting in for a swim.
We walked down to Drake Park which
to the hub of activity for the 4th of July.
You know it’s a bike friendly
town, when the Bend Park & Recreation has valet bike parking roped off.
It’s no wonder they call this
place an outdoor lovers paradise. 250 days of sunshine, but they get snow
unlike Seattle.
We then went over to the Old St.
Francis School to check into our hotel room. McMenamin’s developed the old
Catholic school into a great downtown 19 room hotel, tiled salt-water Turkish
bath, restaurant-pub, bar, movie theater and smoking lounge. And it was pet
friendly! I love it!
The old classroom hallway
Cool reuse of the existing water
fountain in the school hallway
Nearby St Francis Catholic
Church.
The school was
abandoned after it became too big and outgrew its small downtown block
property. The McMenamin brothers are excellent developers who find the right
properties to buy and refurbish the existing building for another use.
Our hotel room, a converted
classroom
Each hotel room was plumbed with its
own bath
It’s these cool kinds of
architecture reuse projects that get me excited. I loved learning all the
history behind the old building. There were stories everywhere from students,
teachers, and priests over the years from their time there. I love the new use which works so well in a
city like Bend.
Since it was so hot and we wanted
to get Chance plenty of exercise before the loud fireworks tonight, we took her
to the Old Mill Dog Park. The Old Mill District was completed refurbished into
a great trendy location with a great mix of retail and living. The renovated
old paper mill building with 3 smokestacks is now the REI. We stopped at REI
because well we just couldn’t resist.
Just upstream from the Old Mill
Dog Park was the Riverbend Park where countless people were blowing up their inflatables
to float down the Deschutes River.
It took some coaxing but she did
finally get all the way in for a swim.
Jackie was so hot she actually
liked that she needed to wade in to coax her into the deep portions and try to
get another timid nearby dog in on the mix too.
Back at McMenamin’s we decided to
try letting Chance join us at the patio bar for a mid afternoon snack and ale
sampler. In the basement of the old Catholic school, they brew their own beer.
Oh if the nuns could see the place now! The Terminator Stout was my favorite.
We went for another walk along
the Deschutes River Trail
We passed by Bend Brewing Company
and Deschutes and no matter how much begging I couldn’t convince Joe to sneak
Chance back into the hotel and leave her in the room alone while we grabbed
some more beers. Not going to Deschutes Brewery was a big disappointment from
our brief time in Bend.
We did go and enjoy the Turkish
style baths at the McMenamin’s hotel/pub/theater though.
Chance actually laid down on the
sidewalk while we watched the fireworks!
Funny thing, the City of Bend
seems to have a reputation for setting Pilot Butte State Park on fire every
year on the 4th of July. We watched the fireworks from about a mile
away in downtown on Greenwood Ave directly due west of the hill. There was a
long pause shortly after the fireworks began. I knew it couldn’t be over but we
weren’t gonna wait forever for the grand finale. We started walking up the
street to a slightly higher elevation and looked back to the launch point. Yep,
there was a fire. They finally did set a few more fireworks off once the fire
was out but it wasn’t the greatest firework show. Apparently I read later that
the Fire Department had prohibited the use of their big fireworks thus the
lackluster show.
The next morning we went to
breakfast at Chow. It was a popular spot on July 5th!
After 4 nights of camping, this was
a great change of pace.
Coffee, which I hadn’t had in
days with camping and a Bloody Mary for Joe was the perfect beginning to breakfast
on the Chow patio. Check out all the different kinds of homemade sauces!
Then the pancakes, biscuits &
sausage gravy and potatoes came….oh soooo good!
We love vacation!
