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August 19, 2012

I am finally getting around to posting about our road trip to Oregon. We took a week in August 2012 to explore Central and Southeastern Oregon. The main goal was to visit a remote mountain range in SE Oregon called Steens Mountains with a stop for a couple of days in Bend.

I don’t know how we first learned of the Steens Mountains or why they have held such an attraction for us. I think it might have been the opportunity to see Pronghorn antelope and the unique range which towers over the desert at over 9,000ft. We love the western deserts and remoteness.

We left Seattle just after 9am for Bend. We decided to drive via I-90 Snoqualmie Pass and Hwy 97 to avoid the boring I-5 slogg and traffic. We stopped for a picnic lunch at Maryhill State Park on the Oregon border. We rested and lunched for about an hour before returning to the road. We rolled into Bend shortly before 5pm.

We rented an older craftsman cottage near the downtown area. We found it on VRBO. It was recently restored and very charming. We had the ability to cook and easily walk to the downtown area. The day was hot and hose didn’t have any air conditioning so it was pretty warm when we arrived but we opened all the windows and turned on the fan to cool it down.

We walked to Deschutes Brewery for dinner. The wait on Sunday evening at 6pm was over 40 minutes. We had a couple of brews in the bar and eventually got seated. Unfortunately, the food was not worth the wait or price. I had a burger and fries which was around $14.00 and G had a pear Gorgonzola pizza. The beer was good. We were able to have a couple of their different IPAs which were nice.

We walked home along the Deschutes River Park which curves along downtown. It was the perfect way to wind down after the long drive.

Maryhill State Park – shady park along the Columbia – our lunch stop

Crossing the Columbia into Oregon

Our Bend Cottage

Our Bend Cottage

Our Bend Cottage

Sunset along the Deschutes River