Hanging in Bend, Oregon

a pretty setting at Big Pines RV

After our pleasant Row River camp out, our next destination was Bend, Oregon, where we spent several weeks. Michael's Alpine To-Do list included a few repair items to be completed in the area and the rest of the time was spent with family and friends.

leaving our home overnight to have windows replaced

The drive to Bend was not a long one but since our first To-Do item was to replace all the windows, we spent a night at Big Pines RV in Crescent south of Bend, and the next morning we drove the few remaining miles to Dave Root in La Pine to drop off Alpine. Dave Root is a well-recognized name in the RV community for replacing windows on coaches. Several of our windows had fogged up and it was time to take care of that.

While Alpine spent the night in La Pine to be worked on, we continued on to Bend for a couple of nights with Michael's sister and to visit Mom.  It is rather convenient for us to have a lovely place to stay when our house on wheels needs to spend time in a repair shop.
The following afternoon, we drove back to La Pine to pick up our home with its newly installed windows. What a difference now that we can both see clearly out of our cab side windows and the dining window which had fogged up quite badly.
There is no longer an excuse to keep the windows sparkling clean. What we see now is no longer fog but dirt!

scenic mountain backdrop in our Redmond back yard

From Dave Root's shop we drove straight to Redmond to fill up at Pacific Pride. Michael prefers to use the Pacific Pride and CFN cardlock facilities when they are convenient. They provide an easy access and are less congested. Rarely have there been other vehicles whenever we filled up.
With a full tank, we continued to the Redmond Expo Fairgrounds and set up at their lovely RV Park with its spacious sites. This was home for the duration, except for the couple of days for scheduled repairs in the middle of June.  

with Pam and Mom at lunch

We made ourselves comfortable, walked (he ran every other day) around the spacious grounds, made daily trips into Bend to join Mom for breakfasts or lunches in the dining room, and spent weekends visiting Pam and Gary. 
Pam and I had dueling cameras going to capture the different amazing sunset displays from their back porch. Pam and Gary's home has the most spectacular view spanning several volcanic peaks, from the Three Sisters all the way north to Mt Hood which is visible on clear days.

And because there is no sales tax in Oregon, we also did a fair amount of shopping, at Costco and Fred Meyer in particular. Michael groaned every time I reminded him that we should take the opportunity to buy while in Bend where "Everything in Oregon is Free!"

It was also a good opportunity to have my sewing machine serviced at the terrific Bernina quilt store conveniently located in the same plaza as Costco. 

And a good opportunity to have a haircut. Depending on where we are when it's time to have a trim, haircuts can be like playing Russian roulette. I take a chance every time I enter a salon and cross fingers the stylist listens to what I would like to have done. I've been fairly lucky so far, and have now established a relationship with a couple of stylists in our regular haunts. However, once when we were in Palm Springs my cut was so radical that Michael looked at me after I returned and uttered in surprise, "What happened?!" I'm glad to say that I was very satisfied with Pam's stylist and will plan future trims whenever we are in Bend. 

Michael's nephew, Rob, is a pilot instructor for Hillsboro Aero Academy at the Redmond airport. He gave us a tour one afternoon. Rob is accumulating flying hours to earn his pilot license and training students is one of the ways he can do this.  Hillsboro Aero Academy offers a training program to primarily Chinese students who are housed in nearby accommodations and transported to the airport and back. They must speak English, follow strict protocols for attaining proficiency during training, but also regarding behavior and maintaining tidy and clean rooms. After a specific number of infractions, students forfeit their privilege to learn to fly and return immediately to China. This ends any future flying career.  Since it's very competitive to be accepted into this program, and because students are sponsored by the government, those who do not complete the program and are sent back end up with menial airport related positions, like baggage handling. Every student therefore faces enormous pressure to succeed which becomes not only a matter of pride but also a future career path. Apparently there have been a few students who did not make it and had to return home. 

Inside the building, we observed several students, in uniform, on simulators and computers, then went outside to see the planes used for instruction.

Rob and would-be-pilot uncle

Need I mention that the Redmond airport is located close enough to the fairgrounds to watch planes take off and land, a real bonus for my plane-crazy hub. He was delighted to be able to text Rob whenever Rob was in the air and point out our coach for Rob to spot. 

Two Alpines joined us while we were at the Expo grounds. The O'Neils and their friends spent a couple of days. And our good friends, Debi and Sandy (and Shasta) arrived mid June on their way south from Idaho. They and we were heading on to the Crater Lake rally next, so they stopped in Bend for a spell first. It gave Debi and me a great opportunity to scout out several quilt shops in the Bend area. We certainly had a lot of fun.

One quilt shop has a gallery upstairs so we checked the quilts on display. A few were my favorites:

I found time to do some sewing, which is always a treat while on the road. There aren't many places we stay perched long enough to start and finish a project. Towels which also make useful gifts are quick projects to embroider.  

 Bags and wallets are quick to sew up too.

There were three celebrations in June  - my birthday, our anniversary, and Father's Day. It was a great excuse to celebrate the passing of yet another year with Pam and Gary joining us at ColdStone Creamery.

We also celebrated at Anthony's in Old Town Bend with a lunch.

with Mom, Pa,m, and Debi

Father's Day brunch with Debi and Sandy was a feast for the eyes and the palate.

Mom got to meet Debi and Sandy. Finally. Over the past couple of years, Mom has heard many texts coming in from Debi Johnson on my phone, which alerts me with a voice message: New text message from Alpine Debi Johnson. Eventually Mom asked me WHO this Debi Johnson is and why she keeps texting me. Mom and Debi finally got to meet and visited several times. 

lunch with Mom's table mates, Jo and Jeremy

picnic outing with Mom at Drake Park

When Alpine went in for repairs at Bend RV (to paint the peeling roof edge), we conveniently returned to Pam for a couple of nights. Because the RV Park at the Fairgrounds was fully booked over the weekend, once Alpine was ready to be picked up, we stayed at The Camp in downtown Bend. Newly refurbished and under new ownership, this RV Park offers a unique opportunity to experience camping in a cute vintage trailer. It was fun to peek in through the windows. As cute as the trailers are, I am quite content with the size and mod cons in our house on wheels.

We returned to the Redmond Expo Fairgrounds RV Park after that until it was time to leave on June 20th for our next adventure, the Alpine Crater Lake to Medford Rolling Rally. 

Florence and Row River, Oregon

This was our third year in Florence, Oregon for the Rhody Days Festival. We had so much fun the last couple of times, and since Florence is sort of on our northbound route back to the Pacific Northwest, we added the stop to our travel route. Scott and Marcia Hicks together with several friends make Florence an annual pilgrimage for the festival and we were happy to join them again.
(Link to previous post about Rhodie Days)

Loop F, Site 259

Jessie Honeyman State Park is a terrific park, with many trails, a lake, and of course, the dunes. We've enjoyed staying here the previous times we visited but this time was different. There had been a lot of rain and this time our site was in the midst of tall evergreens, making it dark and damp and quite cool. 

The wet conditions bring out the Northwest banana slug. We came across a few on our walks.

our slimy Northwest banana slug

my boot to illustrate scale

Michael had a surprise the morning he disconnected the water hose to prepare us for travel.

The Rhody Days festival was not a complete washout. The weather cleared up for the grand parade through town on Sunday. We viewed the floats from the Hicks & Company's usual spot along the route.

Here are a few of my favorite paraders: 

two cowgirl princesses

Vintage Model T Ford 

Vintage Model A Ford

the Mexican horses and dancers are always fun to watch

perfect vehicles for  Oregon's sand dunes

tractors new

and tractors old

One afternoon when it was rainy, Marcia and I went into town to see the quilt show held at a local furniture store. I thought it was a clever way to display quilts draped over furnishings.
Here a few that caught my eye:

We walked along a few park trails looking for blooming rhodies.

We walked around Cleawox Lake.


There is a memorial to Jessie Honeyman we noticed for the first time.  She worked with Oregon's first Superintendent of State Parks to preserve Oregon's coastal lands.

We climbed the dunes to see how far we could see.  Kids were having a great time sliding down the dunes on flattened cardboard boxes.

 The ocean is about 3 miles away.

 We had a great view of the lake from the top of the dunes.

One gloomy day we accompanied Marcia and Scott on a ride along the coastal road. We stopped off near Yachats to see Devil's Churn, a narrow inlet . We watched the water rushing in, churning at the end, the waves crashing and spilling over. The grey skies created a perfect backdrop for this wild and rugged coastline.

Our reservations at the state park were through the 20th. We then moved over to the Elks a few miles north of Florence for a couple of nights. We heard good reviews about this Elks RV Park and since we were in the area, we decided to check it out.  It was a welcome option to our dark site at the state park. The grounds are large enough to accommodate RVs as well as tents in a meadow. We enjoyed our walk around the park. 
The following day, we went to the Darlingtonia State Natural Site, a botanical preserve we noticed along the road to the Elks RV park.  

A wooden boardwalk meanders across an expanse of mucky bogland blanketed by tangles of the Darlingtonia, a carnivorous plant native to Oregon and northern California. 

Two days later, we were off again, heading to the Hicks' annual Memorial Day weekend camp-out at their Row River property. 

Compared to the previous year, this was a cool and drippy week. However the rain did not dampen the fun and camaraderie. This was certainly the first time that I ate outside in the rain at the potluck meal we shared over Memorial Day! We were all huddled around a gas fire inside an outdoor gazebo canopy shelter, the rain pouring overhead, enjoying a picnic dinner. 

there were evening campfires - Michael took the opportunity to burn a bundle
of old checks and bank statements

a break in the weather and some welcome sunshine

We had a good time and met several more folks, several of whom are Marcia's friends from Sisters on the Fly camping club. Without cell coverage or internet, we truly felt like we were remote from the intrusions of civilization enjoying the great outdoors with good friends.
On Monday we continued to our next stop at Crescent Pine RV Park in Crescent, Oregon.