Oregon( Silver Falls, Sisters, Bend)

Silver Falls State Park is in my top 3 for state parks.  

You can walk behind four of them as the spout drop some 170 feet ft from the rock ledge. 

There are rock amphitheater-like alcoves that have been carved away, I think they need to be man-made, but John thinks otherwise.  We will have to wait for a subsequent trip to visit the museum.  

We had the most beautiful fall day and the yellow of the deciduous trees were popping, and the trails were just the right amount of up and down for a bit of a workout but leisurely.  

Except of course when you leave a 4pm for a 6 mile hike and sunset is at 6:26. All Trail says this is the Short Trail of Ten Falls and we did it counterclockwise.   It was not so leisurely on the first day hike, but the second day made up for it, leaving by 1pm because there was an incident in which Lisa’s sunglasses fell out of her pocket and then when we back tracked and found them, John happened to run them over and break them anyway.  This is the third pair of sunglasses that were broken not lost on our adventures this year.    

We were able to take the bike trail to the trail head loops and then hike to Winter Falls and Upper Falls, back tracking to see the Double Falls which is the highest at 178 feet but only a trickle compared to the others.

We saw a gaggle of ladybugs, not sure if this is the right term, but this one bush had hundreds of them on leaves and in bunches. 

Silver Falls has a nice paved bike trail as well that leads to the hikes.   There are less than 100 campsites, and they say it gets really hot in the summer, and the swimming hole at the end of October looked dismal, but maybe they fill it up because there looks to be sloped concrete slabs that border it.

A definite place to experience in the fall.  This will be a return to park in the fall.   

Over the Edge Tap House in Crooked River which is about 30 miles North of Bend would be our next landing spot where we met lots of friendly people and a great kiddie play area,  and our overnight was so quiet.  

This area reminded us of our desert home but very rural, no main street area, but had a golf course and RV park and there was one other saloon eating place too. Smith Rock which some call the birthplace of Rock climbing is located here, but that will have to be a next time because we never made it back to the Chilli cook off

Sisters, Oregon

The nostalgic location of Sisters was the next destination and the place where John talked to his Father for the last time.  He was here doing a South Sister mountain climb with our friend and former next store neighbor, Dave Wash. 

The town of Sisters  is so cute and they have a Folkfest at the end of September that includes an American Songwriters Camp.  We took in show at the Belfry which is a music venue, about size of Ridgecrest USO club that has been renovated from a run-down church.  We really loved the local opening band, Skybound Blue, a husband wife duo and a bass player.  It really seems like is a nice small venue and some of my favorite like AJ Lee and Blue Summit and Steve Poltz have scheduled dates there.  The first whole day while wandering Sisters, we heard two old guys, who played Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald followed by Nights in White Satin,  and the lead guitar player had a thing he called Fritz and it made all sorts of interesting instrumental sounds.  

They were really good and Open Door was a lovely small stage and restaurant. This town is a tourist destination in the summer, but we really like the vibe.  Many neighborhoods had a short walk/bike into the town main street area and then there was a parade through the center of town and we realized it’s homecoming in for the Outlaws.  The place is expanding for sure, reminds me a little of Bishop but since it is off the main drag between Bend and 97 South it is less busy, but with the Sister peaks in the Landscape, Three Creeks Brewing, a Community Theater and only local grocery stores (even ) and shops it feels so nice.  

There is even a Sisters Creek Campground that is a ½ mile walk to the Belfry downtown and if that is full, there is dispersed camping down Pine Street again very close to town with great bike paths. We even met a woman who knew Ridgecrest and whose aunt and uncle worked with John at Cerro Coso, small world.  Our first long term summer rental is now between Wenatchee and Sisters, we are just not sure which year that will be, but both are on the short list.   

But then there was Bend to investigate. 

The population is over 100,000  compared to Sisters with 3,000 (these are both 2021 census I think they have both grown significantly).  The spreadsheet pretty much failed to exist in the last week; this was on purpose since there is much more campsite availability and we have been deciding where to go day to day.  We had seen the at Blissfest in Michigan and they were playing a concert at the Volcanic Theater Pub in Bend, and in the accompanying parking lot there is the Good Life Brewery, with Snickers Imperial Stout (delicious dessert beer not too sweet and thick like some). An oh the Turkey BLT with bacon and turkey that the owner smokes meats on premise.  And as the bartender noticed we were on the dark side he offered samples of other darks.  We had “bartender” permission to camp in the parking lot, and although a bit too well lit all night, it was really quiet and bordered an industrial area and neighborhood.   We are headed back today to watch the Eagles game. 

The Steel Wheels were more incredible than we had remembered from our seats in the field at the farm, definitely a follower now.  They have incredible harmonies even when only accompanied by their unique Jingle Stick.

Drake Park in Bend is where the “Munch and Music” free concerts are held in the summer, so we arrived at this 13-acre manicured dual path park with footbridges across the Deschutes River and the trees bursting in color.  Then walked up the path to the downtown to the Commons Café and Tap room where John exchanged stories about visiting Veterans Stadium with their fathers in the 70’s (His bum fight compared to John’s  keg under the wheel chair story – that’s Philly)  They even invited us to stay in their driveway but we had concert tickets in Sisters.  Evidently this river is filled with tubers in the summer although we saw a few SUP and kayaks on this late fall day.   As we drove out, there appears to be named neighborhood sections of Bend, making a section seem small as we noticed restaurants in these neighborhoods off the beat and path of the downtown area. Bend would be another consideration for a long term rental, but a bit on the large side

Well I will sign of for a while as we are in back to California mode and visiting friends and dogs, children too. Had an overnight at Mount Shasta and stop by for a small hike at Castle, Craig State Park for some cool looking crags. Don’t think we’d ever venture up there – looks more difficult than Ha Ling