Sunday, June 27

Today is a rest day in Bend. I am pretty excited to be in one of my favorite towns. I just think Bend is so cool. I am not excited about the next 4 days through high altitude desert to Boise.

The ride from Pacific City to Salem was nice, especially for a plus eighty mile day. There were some short, kinda steep climbs in the beginning, but it was doable. The toughest part was the trucks on the narrow roads where there was not a shoulder. Ate at the Ram in Salem for a decent steak and good craft brew. The night of sleep I got at the RV Park in Salem was okay, considering that I was 100 feet from I-5. But they did have great showers and facilities and I didn't have to go out of my way.

On Friday, I started the climb into the Cascades. I thought I would make it to Detroit. It was not really a bad ride, just the end when you had to climb to Detroit Dam. Took good rest breaks in Stayton and Mill City. I enjoyed the ride until the end. Detroit is a resort little town that people come to for the lake. The RV park was junk, so I biked another 5 miles to Idanha where there was a nice, friendly park. I got a great campsite on the N. Santiam River (compared to I-5). In all, a 61 mile day.

I got up on Saturday and took my time packing camp. Stopped at the lone diner/store in Idanha where the cook gave me extra food for my climb up to Santiam Pass. The day was trudgery. It was about 40 miles to the pass and most of it uphill. The elevation difference was 3200 feet, total climbing just to Santiam probably close to 5500. I averaged just over 10 MPH going up. My total average at the end of the day (84 miles into Bend) was 13.3. So you can see I took advantage of the descent.

I'm trying to gear myself up for the next few days. There will be few places to hide from the sun, the terrain sure to be rolly tough, and the distances between places really far. Until then, I have one more night in Bend and I'm gonna enjoy it. See you in a few days!

Baron when we stopped for lunch in Mill City.


Broken Top and Three Sisters


Me and Baron

Weather

On the iphone, you can set the weather application to give you current temperatures and forecasts for whichever cities you program. At 9:09 this morning, here were the current temperatures:

Asheville, NC - 12F
Hendersonville, NC - 12
Atlanta, GA - 21
Anchorage, AK - 12
Homer, AK - 24
Bend, OR - 32
London, United Kingdom - 36

We are as cold as Anchorage, ALASKA! Even more impressive is that the sun is up here. It is still dark and 5:09AM local time in Alaska.

The weather guys predict that our cold snap may last up to two weeks. There is a good chance highs won't be above freezing for the next week. Normal if you are from Fargo or Buffalo, but not for the deep south.

The Best Of: The Pacific Northwest

Tomorrow (Sept 18) marks exactly one month since I returned from the Pacific NW. I have had enough time to decompress and reflect on my Pacific Northwest Trip. Love that part of the country. The scenery is great, people are wonderful, food is excellent. Here are some of the superlatives:

Best Town (less than 100,000): Bend, OR – What’s not to love? Great city with everything I love: scenery, neat people, trails, mountains, clean, funky. Bend is sort of summarized in this blog post.
Honorable Mention: Eugene, OR and its cool university; Poulsbo, WA with its Norwegian flair; Florence, OR and its dunes and Old Town.


Best City (over 100,000): Vancouver, BC – the hosts of the 2010 Winter Olympics, Vancouver is cosmopolitan and diverse, trendy and funky. Downtown Vancouver is compact has neat neighborhoods like Yaletown, Chinatown and Gastown. How can you not like a city that has a huge park downtown, skiing and beaches within the metropolitan limits and Whistler with its world-class slopes and mountain bike trails less than two hours away?
Honorable Mention: Victoria, BC – walkable, quaint with great history and architecture; Portland, OR – bike friendly, lots of parks and home of Powell’s.

Best Drive: Rim Drive, Crater Lake National Park – every overlook reveals another perspective of Crater Lake and makes you just want to stop. The drive is scenic and spectacular.
Runner-up: Pacific Coast Highway between Brookings and Bandon, Oregon
Best Drive I didn’t drive: Pacific Rim Highway (Hwy 4) between Port Alberni and Tofino on Vancouver Island


Best View: Newberry Crater (with Pauline and East Lakes) from Paulina Peak, Newberry Volcano National Monument
Honorable Mention: Crater Lake from Wizard Island Summit; Bend from Pilot Butte (see photo above "Best Town"); looking up at the Redwoods.


Best Beach: Cox Beach, Tofino, BC
Runner-up: Secret beach near Brookings, OR

Favorite Mountain: Three Sisters, Oregon- Actually three mountains: South Sister, 10,363 ft; Middle Sister, 10,047 and North Sister, 10,085 are not the highest in the central Oregon Cascades, but together are awful pretty to look at when driving or from Bend. (note: Mt Ranier is still my favorite, I just didn't go there on this trip)
Honorable Mention: Mt Hood

Favorite Island: Vancouver Island- it has it all, a great city in Victoria, awesome National Parks, skiing and then best surfing in Canada.
Honorable Mention: Wizard Island, Crater Lake National Park

Best Coffee: Human Bean Coffee, Bend, Oregon

Best Coffee Shop: Townsends Tea House, Bend, OR – okay, they don’t serve coffee, but it’s a great shop that hangs great art on the walls and is a nice place to work or relax. Plus, the Kashmiri Chai almost makes me never want coffee ever again...
Honorable Mention: Dragonfly Coffee, Portland NW

Best Bookstore: Powell’s City of Books, Portland, OR – go get lost in Powell’s, it’s very easy to do and some time well spent.

Best Breakfast: Victorian Cafe, Bend, OR – the Warsaw was amazing!
Honorable Mention: Willie’s Bakery, Victoria, BC
Coolest Restaurant: Cornucopia, Eugene, OR - wonderful lunch specials
Best Norwegian Themed Restaurant: The Crazy Norwegian, Port Orford, OR- the best fish and chips!
Favorite Brewery: Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR- hooray Black Butte Porter

Best Single Place for a variety of food: Richmond Night Market, Richmond, BC

Best Hostel: Hostelling International Vancouver Downtown- Large, but comfy, clean and safe.
Honorable Mention: Olympic Hostel, Port Townsend, WA - Great location


Favorite Hike: Dutton Creek, Crater Lake National Park
Runner-up: Mirror Lake, near Mt Hood, Oregon; Wizard Island Summit, Crater Lake


Favorite bike trail: Tumalo Falls Trail, Bend, OR- the climb is made easy by all the waterfalls you pass; the downhill fast, twisty and fun.
Runner-up: Voodoo Trail, part of Phil’s trail system, Bend, OR

Best Boat Ride: Wizard Island drop-off, Crater Lake National Park
Runner-up: ferry between Nanaimo and Vancouver


Favorite City Park: Stanley Park, Vancouver, BC- with its beaches, aquarium, marina, views, hikes, Stanley Park has everything all within walking distance of downtown Vancouver.
Honorable Mention: Wallace Park, Portland, OR; River Park, Bend, OR; English Beach, Vancouver, BC


Favorite State Park: Cape Blanco State Park, Oregon coast
Runners-up: Tumalo State Park, near Bend, OR; Honeyman State Park, Florence, OR
(note: Oregon's State Park system is first class. North Carolina could take some notes).


Favorite Bridge: Lion’s Gate Bridge connecting North Vancouver with downtown Vancouver
Runner-up: St. John's Bridge, Portland/St. Johns, OR

In Bend

Sitting at Townshend's Teahouse. Drinking Kashmiri Chai... yum. This is my fourth day in the Pacific Northwest. Arrived three days ago, where Kate picked me up at the Portland airport. The flight from Seattle to Portland was short, but very cool. The pilot made a fly around of Mt St Helens. Not just a flyby, "Hey look out the window", but he actually circled the caldera and you could look down into the volcano from several different angles.

Kate lives in Northwest Portland in a great neighborhood. Her apartment is less than a block from a great park where we read and napped. On the recommendations of my friends, Lindsay and James, I am reading Jon Krakauer's "Under the Banner of Heaven". The book is really enlightening me to a lot of things I never considered regarding not just Mormonism, but faith in general. No matter what religion you are, fanaticism has a lot of the same characteristics.

I have had some good grub. I love food when I travel. We ate at Sushiville, near Kate's place where the sushi comes around on conveyers. I haven't been to one of those in years. Someone needs to open one in Asheville. Breakfast Tuesday was also near Kate's where Kate was being imparted Vulcan wisdom by a dangling Mr. Spock. This teahouse rocks. Another thing I need in Asheville. Breakfast at the Victorian in west Bend was delicious. Get the Warsaw, it has eggs, potatoes, sauerkraut, Polish sausage and is loads of yummy. Had an elk burger at the Deschutes Brewery last night. Parilla's across the street from Victorian's has funky burritos. It's like the Lucky Otter with more tatoos and one dollar PBRs.
Bend is a very good town. Mountain biking is first class and close to town. I rode Tumelo Falls Trail yesterday, about 16 miles round trip. The uphill took me pass no fewer than seven waterfalls and the downhill was fast and fun. The city is very bike friendly and has good restaurants and shopping. You are close to all sorts of things: volcanic stuff (Newberry National Volcanic Monument), skiing and snowboarding at Mt Bachelor, rafting on the Deschutes River, hiking and camping and, of course, endless miles of mountain and road biking. Portland is only 3 hours away and Eugene is about 2. And there are great towns nearby like Sisters, Redmond and Sunriver.
Last night, I was walking downtown looking for dinner and a girl walks by and says "Hi." I say "Hi" back and then we both turn and look at each other. It was obvious that we both knew each other. Turns out Kathy and I played Ultimate together in the Asheville League and she had moved to Bend last winter. It's funny how 2,500 miles away, in a city of nearly 80,000 people, I can randomly run into someone I know. We ended up going to meet some of her friends for dinner. Small world...