Bend, Oregon

Sunday - we went to Mass at St. Francis de Sales at 7:30.  After breakfast we put on our walking shoes and went to the Old Mill District of Bend, right along the Deschutes River.  They have a great hiking trail along both sides of the river.  We walked up one side, crossed the bridge at the top and back down the other side.  It was a beautiful day, there were many people out doing the same thing, most of them had one or two dogs.  Back home to rest and clean up, then we drove downtown and looked around.  We ended up at McMenamin's Brewery and Restaurant.  This is in an old Catholic School they have fixed up.  They have a hotel and event area attached.  I took pictures of the stained glass window of St. Francis and the vault door.  We had a nice visit with the server and a local attorney we sat next to.  We had fun with some of the other servers - as we walked in, one waitress coming in at the same time said "Go Jacks" - she was from Rapid City and went to SDSU, then moved to Bend.  Another server came in and said "Michigan", I had my Michigan shirt on and she went to school there.  Then our server said, "so where are you from, you have South Dakota, Michigan and New Mexico on" (Gary had his New Mexico shirt on).  We had fun explaining our traveling lifestyle to him.

Deschutes River in Bend

Beautiful day on the river walk

St Francis window at McMenamin's Brewery

Old safe door at former Catholic School

at McMenaims'

Monday - out and about to make sales calls.  We were successful making a couple appointments for later in the week.  Gary and Marilyn called from Salem and said they were driving over to spend the night in Bend.  They joined us for Happy Hour when we met up with a couple we had met on RVillage from Bend.  We met at the Deschutes Brewery pub downtown and had a great visit.  A fun couple, they are hoping to full time soon.  Then we and Gary and Marilyn went to the Pine Tavern for supper.  We were celebrating their anniversary with them.  The Pine Tavern is famous for its fresh, hot scones and honey butter.  Yumm.

Tuesday - More sales calls - the weather is beautiful this week in Bend.  Everyone is out and about, enjoying the sun and warm temps.  We went for a walk later in the day to pick up a few groceries at the Fred Mayer store down the street.  Home to eat all our yummy leftovers for supper.  Then we went over to the RV parks' fire pit/fireplace and had a camp fire!  It was a cooler evening, but warm by the fire.  The campground maintenance man came by with more wood for us and we visited with the neighbors when they came back from supper.

Campfire

Wednesday - Late afternoon we went to the Deschutes Brewery for taste testing and to check out the store.  We were too late for the tour, but had a nice visit with the other visitors there.

Thursday - Today we were to have our bedroom window fixed.  The long dual pane window in the back has had moisture in it and Gary found someone in Bend to fix it.  The guys came and looked, but needed to order parts, so we rescheduled for Monday, Apr. 28.  We will come back to Bend before heading to our job.
In the afternoon, we had a special treat.  Bret at The Bend Tour Company invited us to take his tour of Bend on his Segways!  We never have done that before and probably never would have.  He showed us how easy it is to ride them - you go forward by putting pressure on your toes and you stop by putting pressure back to your heels.  The steering is just by turning the handle bars to the side.  It really was easier than we imagined, I always thought you really had to balance yourself on them.  Bret took us around and told us the history of Bend as we stopped at many different places.  It was so much fun!
http://thebendtourcompany.com/2014/04/rvillagers/

This night, Gary had invited another new friend from RVillage to come over to a campfire.  After we got home midafternoon, we watched the campers next to the firepit set up chairs and tables for a big party!  We figured we would just ask if we could join them at the campfire, until 8 couples showed up for their supper party.  No room for us, for sure.  But RG was fine with visiting us in our motorhome.  We are meeting some really great people, she writes articles for the camping magazines.

Segway ride for the Captain

Friday - work as usual in the morning and then we drove to nearby Redmond for the RV Dealers show.  We looked at many of the motorhomes - still have not found one we would give ours up for.  We visited with some of the salesmen and told them about RVillage and handed out information.  Back home, supper and another campfire.  Both neighbors had left and no one else joined us.  Another beautiful evening.

Our campsite at Scandia RV Park, Bend

Saturday - we pack up and head for Salem.  We went north on Hwy 20, then Hwy 126 over the Santiam Pass.  There was snow along the road, but not on the road.  It was a long grade down then, the Captain said we will have to unhook the car when we travel back this way to Bend.  then Hwy 22 took us rest of the way to Salem.  The further we came down from the pass, we saw trees budding out and then leaves, blooming trees and flowers as we arrived in Salem.  The yards were just colorful with the tulips and blooming bushes.  Spring!  Amazing to see all this green and color after our time spent in Arizona.  We drove into the housing community where Gary and Marilyn (G&M) live.  Salemtowne has three electrical hookups for motorhomes in the parking lot of the clubhouse - for guests of the residents.  We can get water at their house and there is a dump station down below in the camper storage area.  Perfect setup for us for the next two weeks!
After we were all setup, we went to G&M's and visited.  We decided to drive over to see their grandson's baseball game, there we saw all of Nick's family.  The kids have grown and little Scarlett is adorable.  We went to the favorite pizza place for supper, all Nick and Tyler's family joined us.  A great family reunion time.

Coming down from the Santiam Pass, OR

Spring color in Salem