Oregon is Beautiful - Mid May

Monday - it's my birthday today and we have the day off!  (That has happened rarely in my 39++ years) We decided to venture out and see more new areas.  We drove north on Hwy 35 to Hood River, a town on the Columbia River and I-84.  From Hwy 26, north on Hwy 35 to Hood River, is known as part of the Hood River Valley Fruit Loop.  From June - September, local farms have their fruit stands, with strawberries, cherries, peaches, pears and other goodies available for purchase.  Today was too early for that, but we spotted many of the stands we will come back to when the fruit is ready.  Hood River is a river town with many houses built up on the hills, looking down on the river and many homes can also see Mt. Hood or Mt. Adams.  We stopped at Panorama Point just south of the city - fabulous pictures, you can see for miles.  (All these pictures are from Panorama Point - clicking on any of the pictures will make them bigger)

Mt. Hood and Hood River Valley

Birthday girl

Mt. Adams to the north

The rhododendrons are vivid

We drove on in to town and came upon the Full Sail Brewery, known for their Full Sail and Session beers.  We arrived just before the 1:00 tour, so decided to learn more.  We had a great guide and she let us smell the hops and different malts used in the process.  They are primarily a bottling distributor, so they do not sell a large amount on tap.  We finished the tour and then stopped by their restaurant, tasting a few and having some great sandwiches.  We then drove through the historic downtown area and stopped by The Naked Winery - interesting name.  They have some good wines as well and a lot of theme related clothing and gift ideas.  We drove down to the river front and saw the places where they have windsurfing competitions and trainings.  We stopped at the Visitor's Center there and picked up more information on the region.  Heading home, we drove by the Lavender Farm, they have a festival in June.  The lavender was not ready, but we could see some color.  Of course, the views of Mt. Hood on our return journey were fabulous, first we were seeing the back side of the mountain and then came around to the front, closer to home.  We drove down to Trillium Lake, the road was open today, and found the day use area where we can put our boat in.  Snow was still on parts of the road and the campground road was still closed - we could see the snow drift over the road there yet.  There were a lot of people out enjoying the beautiful day.  It was late afternoon, so the cool breeze made it necessary for me to put my jacket on.  There is a flat trail around the lake too, we will have to walk that some time.  Back home, we started a fire and grilled hotdogs for supper. (We have not grilled dogs for at least 8 years - wow!)  A wonderful way to spend my birthday!

At the brewery

The lavender fields

The back of Mt. Hood as we headed home

From the hiking path at Trillium Lake

Zoom shot of Mt. Hood's lower ridges - you can see where avalanches are possible. You can also see the chair lift and warming hut.

 Tuesday - Today was so nice and everything was dried from the rainy weekend, so we wanted to finish the park mowing - even though it was our day off.  The ranger has been teasing Gary about the "mohawk cut" he left on the ball field, so he wanted to get that evened up.  I went around with the cart and checked for branches, raked some rough areas, and then walked the road perimeters, picking up big branches before he mowed them as well.  It got to 85 today and was a little humid.  A good workout and walking for me.  Before supper, we went over and loaded up our car full of Linda's things that needed to be hauled to the Goodwill store.  Then grilled burgers for supper and enjoyed our campfire.

Wednesday - Time to visit a dentist in Oregon - have to share my funds across the nation, I guess.  I went in to get an evaluation on whether I need another crown, I have to keep pursuing this while I have insurance.  They saw a need, so are submitting the claim for approval.  We will know more next month.  Then I took Linda's things in to town to the Goodwill store, picked up groceries and filled the car up with gas.  Back home again, we had lunch and then got ready to go boating!  93 degrees - a perfect day.  We went to Trillium Lake and parked in the day use area we had explored before.  Five other boats, canoes and kayaks were out already and an inflatable raft was just launching.  We blew up the kayak, put on our lifejackets and went out on the water.  Beautiful!  We could see Mt. Hood today from there.  This is a bigger lake than Mirror Lake and we found out it is man-made.  There were many people swimming - yes, swimming!  The water was cool, but not freezing.  Other groups were grilling and picnicking around the lake.  There is a two mile, flat, trail around the lake as well, we saw some hikers walking that.
We rowed and floated around the lake, taking pictures and enjoying the scenery.  We paddled up to the top of the lake, intending to float all the way back down.  Then, my astute Captain, realized we were losing air in the floor of our ship - we headed back to shore!  Upon landing, we found the intake valve for the floor of the kayak was leaking air.  We are hoping vaseline on the seal may solve the situation for the next time.  We dried off the ship and loaded up, heading home safely for the day.  I made spaghetti for supper and we went for an evening walk around the park.

Kayaking on Trillium Lake

Thursday - back to work.  We had a staff safety meeting at 9:00, then went with our boss to the other two nearby areas that we have to maintain this summer.  Sandy Ridge is just four miles away - this is becoming a very well known mountain bike park, they are holding competitions there often.  There are mostly trails to ride on, but hikers are allowed as well.  We have two bathrooms there to maintain and responsible for emptying the garbage cans.  Then we went a little further to Barlow Trail Wayside, a small hiking area with one bathroom to maintain.  We hiked the trails a little and will need to come back for more, a very pretty area.  Back at the park, Gary got on the mower again and mowed the other areas that had grown back, I worked on RVillage accounts at home.  While sitting outside before supper, I looked up and had three visitors on the path just down from our campsite.  Three deer strolling by - they stopped and looked as I talked to them and got pictures.  Then they left when a bike rider on one of the other trails spooked them.

Supper visitor

Friday - we worked in the park today - using the weed trimmer and pull behind blower.  This blower hooks on to the back of the golf cart and off we go.  Slick!  I was working at cleaning the dried clippings off of the paved trails - had to use the rake and broom to loosen it so we could blow it off the path.  After lunch, Gary went with Brian back to Sandy Ridge to let the workers in for the park improvements.  I went for a aerobic walk around the park.  We are supposed to get rain again late Saturday and then Sunday, so have to get out when I can.  Fixed supper and then went to do our water testing assignment.  The park checks the chlorine level in the water spigots at the park every day.  We have three stations we have to test the water at and then write down the readings for the ranger to review.  My mad scientist likes wearing the lab coat - not mandatory!  We went to the river viewing station when we were done, to look at the eel our co-workers had heard about from park visitors.  There he/she was, moving rocks frantically - we think to make a nest for laying eggs.  It was grabbing small rocks by suction with its mouth and moving them.  Cool!  (We since found out that it is a lamprey - Lampreys (sometimes also called lamprey eels are an order of jawless fish, the adult of which is characterized by a toothed, funnel-like sucking mouth.)  For our Friday evening, we met Anne & Dick at the office to play cards.  They showed us how to play Hand and Foot - there is quite a lot to keep track of in that game.  Of course, the girls won and we had a great time visiting too.  We will teach them our Progressive Rummy game the next time.

Captain weed trimmer

Mad scientist

Lamprey

Saturday - Anne and Dick wanted to switch days today - they have company coming to the area for a week on Sunday and wanted to have Tuesday off to spend time with them.  So our days this week were Thursday-Sunday, now we will work Tuesday and then back on for our four days on Thursday for the Memorial Day weekend.  We slept in and then I had to step up - to do my first barbering job for Gary.  It did not turn out too bad, thank goodness.  I had several coachings from our dear friend Jan, who cut his hair the last two times in Arizona.  Early afternoon we went back to hike the Barlow Trail Wayside park.  We hiked on the main trail and the Falls Trail.  Gosh it was pretty.  A good hike for us too.  Then we drove west, following the Barlow Trail road, which took us up over the Devil's Backbone ridge, just like the travelers did in their wagons.  Some fantastic views and the flowers and plants were so lush.  The road ended up in Sandy, so we picked up the groceries we needed while we were there.  We took the main highway back home and put the groceries away.  Since it was still so nice out, we drove over to Brightwood, a very small burg not far from us (we are between Brightwood and Welches on Hwy 26) and had a beverage at the tavern. visiting with some of the locals there and checked out the convenience store.  We sat outside when we were back, took late day pictures and grilled a sweet onion and a pork loin roast.  We had a nice fire and a walk at dusk.

Stream crossing on Falls Trail

Five + types of greenery - I love the large clover & ivy

On the Barlow Trail wayside hike

Late day beauty at our park

The late day sun lights everything up

Sunday - went to Mass at 8:00 at St. John's again.  It was supposed to rain all day - it started early morning.  After breakfast, we headed up to the office to put in our work hours.  We did laundry while we cleaned and went out and checked the park.  We had a nice visit with Leslie & Chris, who were also working today.  At home, we did another window shade restringing - the string on the window at my side of the bed broke on Friday.  The accordion type shade lets go and falls crookedly without the two sides of tension.  It is one of the small windows and we are getting pretty good at doing it, so it did not take long.  The rain let up for a little while, so we did another drive around check of the park and picked up more firewood.  By then it started raining again, so we stayed home until we closed the gate for the night.

Visting the Mt. Hood Area

Tuesday - the rain ended, but a cooler day.  We worked in our office in the morning and then set out to see the area.  We drove to Trillium Lake to see if we could boat there in warmer weather.  The park gate was closed, so we hiked in a little way on the road and found snow covering parts of it and a tree that had fallen across it.  They will have some work to do when they open the park.  It was two miles down to the lake, so we did not hike very far before going back to the car.  On the way back, we stopped in Government Camp, the closest town to Mt. Hood and found the Mt. Hood Brewery there.  They had a nice fire going inside and we stayed and had a great pizza for lunch.  Back home, we went to the shop and got one of the free standing tent canopies.  We set that up on our pad, just back from the fire ring, so that we can have a fire even when it is raining lightly (which could be often here).  That night we had a camp fire and invited our two other host couples to join us.  Anne and Dick came and Leslie and Chris also joined us.  Leslie and Chris had arrived on the weekend.  They are full-timers as well, a little younger than us.  The canopy also holds the heat in better, so we stay warmer.

 

Closed road to Trillium Lake

Our campsite with canopy

Wednesday - A sunny day!  I went to Welches and had my hair trimmed and Gary worked in our office.  After I was home, we got ready and drove to the Mirror Lake Trailhead, just this side of Government Camp.  This is a small lake famous for the pictures you can take there of Mt. Hood, mirrored in the lake.  You can only hike in, it's about 2.2 miles round trip, with an additional trail past it.  It was warm by then, but still cool in the shade as we hiked.  The trail climbs 700 feet steadily up from the road, but was not difficult.  We had to cross the mountain springs several times on our way up, on log bridges.  At the lake, we found it was still half covered with ice.  The circle trail around the lake took us over snow drifts still trying to melt.  Very beautiful place.  When we reached the side to take "the Picture", the clouds were almost totally covering Mt. Hood.  Drat!  We took what we could and finished hiking around.  Many people were out, several were fishing.  They do have some primitive tent camp sites there, we could see where others had had their fires.  Too chilly for me to camp that way!  And sleep on the ground?  No way.  A great hike, we will come back again and try to get the picture.  Back home, we changed and went to the nearby Rendevous Grill for supper.  We had wonderful pasta and a pork loin sandwich.  Enough pasta to also take home, another supper for the week.  We sat outside at the campfire again before heading to bed.  I slept very well after all the fresh air and exercise. (The Captain always sleeps well)

A redwood tree stump on the trail

One of the log bridges

Crossing the snow on the trail

Ice yet on Mirror Lake

Mirror Lake (and Mt. Hood behind the clouds)

The lower ridges of Mt. Hood from Mirror Lake

Fisherman at Mirror Lake

Switchback trail from Mirror Lake

Forest stream on trail

Trillium flowers blooming

Thursday - I got up and walked the park right away, knowing the rain was coming.  It started about 11:00.  We were off today so we drove in to Sandy and went to the Sandy Historical Museum.  Very interesting - a lot of information about the logging industry and history of the area and town.  It was fun to learn about the early logging days.  We stopped for a coffee and did grocery and other errands. It rained all day.  That night we grilled chicken for supper - because there is not much wind here in the forest, we leave our awning down all the time, so we do have a dry place to grill. We sat by the fire for a while, but the rain kept trying to put it out.

Friday - Rain, rain, rain.  Oregon is famous for it.  We checked in to the office and then drove around to check the park.  Not too many people were out today, it rained pretty hard several times.  Gary and Marilyn (G&M) came up to camp next door late afternoon.  They came over for supper, we grilled burgers, but then stayed inside to visit because it was damp and chilly with the rain.  We played Mexican Train dominos - the Captain won this time.

Saturday - Opened the gate, did a check through the park and went up to the office. Early afternoon we went over to help Linda - she and her husband were camp hosting before we arrived and her husband had a stroke just a week before we got here.  He is doing well, but they will be moving back to Kansas near family for his recovery and therapy months.  She is cleaning out their camper, they sold it and so everything has to go - they will be taking only their personal things - not needing camping equipment any more.  We set up a canopy near her trailer, helped her move some things out so she could get to the items she needed to ship home.  She gave us several things that we can use, but we did not take much because we only have so much room to put things.  When we were finished with that, we went with G&M to the Zigzag Inn for a late lunch - we had a delicious pizza there.  Later that evening we went to the Rendevous for our Mothers' Day supper.  The boys were treating us, especially since we would not be with our children this year to celebrate.

Sunday, Mother's Day - early Mass - 8:00 at St. John in the Woods, in Welches.  We found this mission church nearby during the week - very handy and appears to be an active parish.  The pews seats are made of half logs, the back of the seats from half branches.  Not the most comfortable, but very unique.  We went with G&M to the DragonFly cafe for breakfast, this cafe is in the RV park they are staying at, next to our Wildwood Park.  Homemade bread and rolls, very good.  It had stopped raining!  We went home and did a run through the park and then went and worked at the park office for awhile.  We vacuumed and swept and then I went out and cleaned out the garden spot in the shop area.  They told we host couples that we can plant there - Anne is going to get tomato and pepper plants and we hope to find a basil plant.  We talked to our kids and grandsons.   Just before we called, I found a snail nearby.  We showed him to the boys and took some great pictures.  Pretty fascinating, I had never seen one with his whole body out of the shell. Late afternoon we drove over to Mt. Hood Village to G&M's campsite.  It was sunny out so we sat out by their fire and visited, before they grilled supper for us.  We helped them clean up afterward and break camp - they drove back home to Salem that night.  We said our goodbyes - they will come back to camp on Memorial Day weekend.  Home again - we did our duty of locking the gate.

Local snail

Our highway driving views in this area - Mt. Hood & the forest

Our Camp Host Job Begins

Monday - Bend  The window repair company came and replaced our foggy window.  We had a conference call at noon and then packed up and hit the road.  Today we drove Hwy 97 north out of Bend and then northwest on Hwy 26.   We unhooked the car outside of Warm Springs and headed up the grade toward Mt. Hood.  Gary could tell he was not getting full power - we have had trouble before with spark plug wires.  But, we kept going and praying.  The roads were dry and there was not quite as much traffic as the day before.  As we got to the top of the pass, there was snow alongside the road, but not as much as the day before, the road was dry and the day was warmer.  The scenery was beautiful as we climbed higher to the mountains where the tall pines covered the mountainsides.
We arrived at Wildwood about 4:30 and went to the office to find out where we should park.  Mark, the park ranger, was there and directed us to the Group Picnic Area host site, we backed in and got set up.  The weather was nice, so we went for a short walk around the park.  The park has many paved hiking trails and also unimproved trails here and in the area. This park has part of the Oregon trail going through it, so we will be hiking it to find the wagon ruts and markers.  We are here now for three months of fun and exploring!

Mt. Hood ahead

Marker at Wildwood - wagon ruts are down this trail

Tuesday - our boss, Brian, stopped by and took us on a short tour of the park.  He drove us in his golf cart around many of the trails, showing us where things were and exploring the area.  He wants us to really get out and walk all the trails and know what is here for any questions we may get from the visitors.  He took us to the office and shop area, told us we can use any of the equipment they have and use the office and shop.  The office building has a laundry room and lounge area with cable TV, computer and good Wi-Fi signal.  We took a rake and big broom back to our site to clean up the paved area, moving the pine needles off so we have more space.  It will be damp here, so it is nice to have the pavement instead of rocks or dirt.  Gary washed the motorhome and we finished setting up.
Late afternoon we drove in to Sandy, the closest bigger town, about 15 miles away. We went to the Goodwill store there and I found another rug to use, to help protect my good rugs from all the pine needles as we come inside with our shoes.  We stopped for an early supper at the Bunsen Brewery, found it opened about 3 months ago.  They had great sandwiches and we found more good beer there.  Gary had their Stout and I had one called Fahrenheit, a red amber with jalapeno pepper in it.  It was really good and not hot spicy like you would think.  Afterward we went to the Fred Meyer store and got the groceries we needed. Home, put things away and organized for the stay here.

The path from our campsite

Wednesday - today we had orientation for hosting.  One of the other couples had arrived late Tuesday and joined us.  Anne and Dick from Florida.  They will be hosting for four months, staying longer because they traveled farther to be here.  Dick is originally from Oregon, but they have lived in Florida for many years.  They are older than us, but ready to enjoy the area and are hard workers.  They have good friends in Portland they will spend time with.  We finished the paperwork we needed to do and then went out to get golf cart training and our golf cart assigned to us.  We start some of our duties today - we have been assigned to lock the park gate for the next four nights at 8:00 PM and Anne and Dick will open every morning at 8:00 AM.  Not too tough. In the afternoon, we outfitted our cart with supplies for cleaning the restrooms and explored the park further.  After supper we had our first campfire- we have a huge supply of wood available to use at the park.

Thursday - May begins!  Yesterday was warm, but today it is supposed to be 85 degrees here!  We worked a little in the morning and then decided to drive up to Mt. Hood to see it and the area.  We honeymooned at Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood in 1986, so it was fun to go back and see the lodge where we stayed.  It was 82 as we left the park and when we reached the lodge, as we gained elevation, had cooled down to 60 degrees.  But still a very warm day for there.  We walked around and reminisced, maybe we will go back and stay one night.  The lodge was built by CCC workers back in the 30's, it is all wood with huge timbers supporting the walls and roof.  Very impressive to be built back then.  We watched the skiers and snowboarders, many of them in shirt sleeves.  www.timberlinelodge.com  We left there and drove back down the mountain, temps getting warmer every mile.  We had a late lunch at the Zigzag Inn, another historic building built by an early resident/pioneer.

Timberline Lodge - the canopy covers the large staircase

Snow piled against the lodge windows

The timbers and fireplace

Friday - We are working for the park today.  Another nice day, we went in and watched a HazMat film and then Gary got certified on the big John Deere mower.  The group area at the park with ball field and large picnic shelters really needed to be mowed and he was itching to run big equipment and make it all look better.  I went around with the golf cart and policed the grass area, picking up all the good sized branches that he should not mow over.  Then I went with our boss, Brian, to do the SepTech readings, four stations in the park where we read meters monthly for the sewer system.  Had a great visit with Brian.  The mower finally was low on gas about 4:30, so Gary quit for the day - there was still a patch in the middle he did not get finished.  We had supper and a fire and then closed the gate at 8:00.

The ball field areas at Wildwood

Captain Mower - it really is this green here

Saturday - We woke up to the first rainy day.  We had slept in, then did laundry and a sweep through the park in our cart.  In the afternoon, we drove in to Sandy. We picked up groceries and had our growlers refilled.  We also looked for the church and decided since we were in town, to just go to the 5:00 mass that day, instead of driving back 20 minutes in the morning.  Our co-hosts at the park were there, as well.  When that was done, we drove back home, picked up some supper and headed to the office.  Tonight we were able to listen to the live audio stream of Ben's opera opening in Denver,  Carmen.   We heard our boy and he had sent us a picture of his costumed character.  The artist doing Carmen was very impressive, as was Ben.  They have unlimited wi-fi at the office, so we will be there for the times we need to use band width.

Ben in Carmen

Sunday - slept in and then made cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  We went out for a walk and ended up hiking some of the unimproved trails in the park.  It is very green here, a lot of moss on the trees and ferns are the underbrush in this forest.  They told us they have only seen green garter snakes, nothing poisonous in the area.  We have only seen deer, chipmunks and small gray squirrels.  The hike was a good workout and a lot of beauty.   Later we drove in the cart and did garbage pickup.  There must be 40+ cans in this place, not counting the seven bathrooms!  Only one of them was full, but we accumulated four bags as we emptied all the cans.  It had started raining mid-day, so we got a little wet. When that was done, we cleaned up and drove up to Rhododendron to Mountain High Coffee Roasters for a good cup of coffee.  We stopped at the store in Welches for a couple supplies and to refill our growlers.  Home again.

On our hike

The root system of a fallen tree - Huge!

The top of the tree

Monday - woke up to rain.  The thing we had never really noticed before was how loud the rain could be as we sit in our motorhome.  We get bigger drops here, because the tall pine trees are dripping down the rain, instead of the direct light showers that are really happening.  I have ended up putting in my earplugs at night to sleep, because we have listened to the rain music so much during the evening.  We opened the gate in the morning and went and worked in the office for a while - not much to do today in the rain.  At 5:00 we headed to "Wraptitude", a local place that has a special 'Taco Night" on Mondays.  Three tacos for $3, not too bad.  We got there just in time, the place filled up.  Since it was Cinco de Mayo, we had a margarita.  We visited with a local who shared his info on places to eat, then we drove back and decided to check out one of the pizza places while we were out and about.  Ivy Bear Pizza, between Wildwood and Sandy - not known for great pizza some say, but we tried their garlic knots, fresh bread knots drenched in garlic butter.  Yuum!  Back home to watch a movie and listen to more rain. After Gary went to bed, I was reading and heard several good thumps on our roof.  Small branches falling from the trees.  I went to bed a little later, praying that a tree would not fall on us during the night.  (Trees are falling in the park all the time, because their root systems are so shallow in the moist ground)  Guardian angels watch over us!

Springtime - More April Showers

This week was rainy, April showers bring more spring flowers here.  Monday morning we walked first, knowing it was going to rain and then worked from our office. That afternoon, with G&M, we took our car and drove north to check out the Wildwood Recreation Area.  We wanted to see what the park was like where we would be hosting and what our new camping spot would look like.  We met the head park ranger, Mark, and he told us the two spots we would probably be assigned to.  We looked them over - nicely paved with a little storage building at each, both surrounded by forest and vegetation.  We also stopped at the Mt. Hood Campground, just next to Wildwood, where G&M have camped and will be camping again this year.  They made their reservations while we were there - they will come up most of the weekends in May and June, so we will have play pals when we are not working.  On the way home, we stopped in Markam for supper.

Dogwood blossoms

Colorful yard

Our parking lot site

Our front door view

Tuesday-Thursday - we worked, did laundry, ran out for a few business calls and walked between rain showers.  The Oregonians know how to dress for these type of days, they always have a rain coat or umbrella with them and come out in droves during the sunshine minutes.
Friday we went with Marilyn in the afternoon for a Costco, Walmart run.  We had a really good supper at the Elks Club and then went back to the house and played a rousing game of Mexican Train dominos.

Saturday we were up early to meet G&M's friend Jim for breakfast.  We had met Jim before on other trips to Salem.  It was good to see him and when we were done, he took us to his place to see his solar power setup, his greenhouse and shop.  He grows his plants mostly in water!  He had a key lime tree, a lemon tree, a banana tree, an avacado tree (that's how they grow), tomato plants, and was getting ready to plant the sweet corn shoots he had started and to grow green beans again.  He also raises tilapia fish in a tank in the green house! Quite a setup - Jim is an engineer, so puts together anything he needs himself.
In the afternoon, we went for wine tasting with Marilyn, her son Tyler and his wife, Jen.  We went to the Left Coast, Cubanisimo and another one.  Each place was back on the highway and had a beautiful scenery setup for parties and receptions.  A surgeon from Cuba, that Marilyn has worked with, owns the Cubanisimo winery.  The winery weekend parties include live music and salsa dancing lessons! That night we met Tyler's family, Nick's family with G&M at another pizza place for supper.

Sunday - Mass today at St. Edward's, the new Catholic church in Keizer, then breakfast, before heading back to the motorhome.  Today we head back to Bend.  We packed up and said our goodbyes.  We fueled up before leaving Salem and headed toward the Santiam Pass, the route back to Bend.  We checked the weather before we left, looking at the DOT road cameras for the pass. (With all the rain in the area, the mountains and high elevations were still getting snow)  We could see snow along side the road, but the road surface appeared clear in the pictures and the temperature was supposed to reach 38 degrees.
We unhooked the car in Mill City and started up the long grade to the pass.  It continued to rain and traffic was really steady.  Gary pulled over a couple times to let traffic pass, we were going the speed limit of 55, but others wanted to go faster.  About 10 minutes before we reached the top it was snowing and visibility was interesting a couple times.  At the top, there was snow accumulating, but the road stayed just wet, not slick or slushy.  Thank goodness!  As we went down the other side, we were in heavier snow showers and more traffic, but continued to have good road surfaces.  And, by the time we reached Bend, it was dry and sunny.  Our timing today was right, hours before and after would have been slick roads - not good for motorhome driving.  Thank you, Lord.

4/27/14 Santiam Pass

We got set up again in our same spot at the Scandia RV Park in Bend and then went to the Crux Brewery.  This one is in the warehouse area of the Old Mill District.  They had tables to sit on outside and even a grassy area for picnics and to run your dogs (they said they were dog-friendly - there were quite a few there)  Inside it was a warehouse type atmosphere with the brew tanks in view.  Gary had a Stout and I had a amber red ale - both very good.  He bought a Growlette there, just the right size for our smaller motorhome frig.  He had that filled with a Porter to take home.  Great sandwiches too.