The next day, Robin and Skye showed us around Bend. We were awed. We had already noticed some surprising features while driving in. There's a Macy's, Trader Joes, and Kohl's. The next town up from Bend has an airport that can fly you to SF, Seattle, and I believe Los Angeles. The Old Mill shopping center we'd seen the night before was impressive...what else could we expect?
Wow! What a cute downtown (not many pictures of it in the morning...more so in the evening when we return). We parked next to a park along the river and walked up to the downtown and had a look around.
We then went to the top of this extinct mini-volcano that sits in the center of town. From the top I took pictures of the local hospital and of the Old Mill shopping center.
They showed us many areas of Bend and the day flew by. We went back downtown to go to dinner at a tapas restaurant called Barrio. A lot of the streets were closed off for street festivals. It was, I believe, the Summer Music Festival and there were stages set up on many streets along with people selling beer, corn dogs, kettle corn, etc. Robin and Skye said they have festivals or street fairs almost every weekend.
When we got to the restaurant, we had to wait for a table...
While waiting, we went to this cool old tavern/restaurant for a drink.
Our time in Bend was over all too quickly. The next morning we started our uber-long trek back to the Bay Area (and I'd have to drive another 3 hours the next day just to get home). We decided to stop for lunch in Dunsmuir at this restaurant where, years before (2006? 2007?) Erich had had the best clam chowder of his life. The restaurant is right next to this very old theater in town but is only open for breakfast and lunch---not dinner time which is what we had when we stopped there before.
Hmm. They had clam chowder---but it was clearly NOT the same chowder from years ago. Apparently the restaurant had changed owners/management in the mean time (which would explain the lack of dinner hours as well).
We drove and drove and DROVE. We finally got home and had a much-need/deserved cocktail. It was a nice way to cap off our trip.
And that's it (FINALLY!).
CHEERS!
Wow! What a cute downtown (not many pictures of it in the morning...more so in the evening when we return). We parked next to a park along the river and walked up to the downtown and had a look around.
We then went to the top of this extinct mini-volcano that sits in the center of town. From the top I took pictures of the local hospital and of the Old Mill shopping center.
They showed us many areas of Bend and the day flew by. We went back downtown to go to dinner at a tapas restaurant called Barrio. A lot of the streets were closed off for street festivals. It was, I believe, the Summer Music Festival and there were stages set up on many streets along with people selling beer, corn dogs, kettle corn, etc. Robin and Skye said they have festivals or street fairs almost every weekend.
When we got to the restaurant, we had to wait for a table...
While waiting, we went to this cool old tavern/restaurant for a drink.
Our time in Bend was over all too quickly. The next morning we started our uber-long trek back to the Bay Area (and I'd have to drive another 3 hours the next day just to get home). We decided to stop for lunch in Dunsmuir at this restaurant where, years before (2006? 2007?) Erich had had the best clam chowder of his life. The restaurant is right next to this very old theater in town but is only open for breakfast and lunch---not dinner time which is what we had when we stopped there before.
Hmm. They had clam chowder---but it was clearly NOT the same chowder from years ago. Apparently the restaurant had changed owners/management in the mean time (which would explain the lack of dinner hours as well).
We drove and drove and DROVE. We finally got home and had a much-need/deserved cocktail. It was a nice way to cap off our trip.
And that's it (FINALLY!).
CHEERS!
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