Mount Bachelor, Oregon

Due to the hot day that was predicted, Dave and I went for our bike ride early in the morning again today.  The first two days we were in Redmond we rode around the fairgrounds.  Yesterday we drove to Eagle Crest Resort to ride, and today we drove to a bike path in Redmond called Dry Canyon.  Today's ride was 10 miles.  We always feel good when we've accomplished what we set out to do.

After returning to the motorhome, taking naps(!), then eating lunch, we were revived enough to leave for our day's excursion to Mount Bachelor.  We drove south to Bend, then west and south on the Cascade Lakes Scenic Highway.

Mount Bachelor

Mount Bachelor offers a summer sightseeing ride on the ski lifts to the top of the mountain.  We paid our $16 each, and hopped on the ski lift. 

When we arrived at the top of the ski lift, we got off to look at the scenery.  We got a close up view of the mountain.  We saw good views of the Three Sisters Mountains, too.

Proof that I was there...

...and so was Dave!

On the way back down the ski lift my phone camera refused to take any more pictures after this one.

The price of the ticket allowed us to ride as many times as we liked.  At the top of the mountain, a restaurant was open.  We were surprised to see a disc golf course at the top, too.  Players ride up and then work their way back down playing the disc golf course.

It was another fun, scenic day in the Redmond, Oregon area!

Prineville and Meeting A Blogging Friend

No, we didn't meet our blogging friend in Prineville.  Dave and I went to Prineville yesterday and this afternoon at the RV park, we enjoyed meeting and visiting with Loree (Life With Luci & Loree) and her dachshund, Luci.  Loree doesn't live too far from the fairgrounds RV park where we are staying.  Luci is a very well-behaved dog that likes to keep her "mom" nearby. 

Loree with Luci in her arms

The visit flew by and before we knew it, it was time for Luci to be taken home to eat her dinner.  Loree, we hope to visit in person with you again, and until then, we'll keep on reading your blog!

In the midst of Loree's visit, Dave was dealing with a problem with the motorhome's transfer switch.  Earlier we had smelled an electrical odor--never a good thing.  A mobile RV repairman came to our site and fixed us up temporarily until a new transfer switch can be ordered.  You can read all about it on Dave's blog.

Yesterday, Dave and I drove to Prineville.  We had a picnic lunch in the shade of an outdoor pavilion (I would have called it a band shelter) at a city park.  The weather was too hot for working outside, but it was nice sitting in the shade.

A bird's eye look at Prineville from Ochoco Viewpoint

Crook County Courthouse in Prineville, Oregon

Even though we've made several visits to the Bend area, we never happened to visit Prineville.  It's a decent-sized town and seems like a nice place to live.  Prineville is the headquarters of our favorite tire store, Les Schwab.

The Les Schwab warehouse complex

After lunch, we headed out of town for another seventeen or so miles and visited Prineville Reservoir.  This lake is formed from Bowman Dam and Crooked River.  Yesterday the weather was just right for boating, water skiing, and tubes pulled by boats.  The fishing is supposed to be good there, too.  There's a state park campground here, with a few full-hookup sites, and quite a few partial hookup sites.  The sites didn't look quite as inviting for big rigs, but some sites were suitable, and other, smaller rigs were enjoying the park and it was full. 

One section of Prineville Reservoir

After visiting the state park, we drove another bunch of twisty miles and reached the private Prineville Resort RV Park.  It had quite a few small sites located next to the water, but other than that it was a dusty place and not much of a "resort". 

The state park swimming area

We headed back to Redmond and enjoyed a pizza and salad dinner at one of our old haunts from our years in Riverside, California--Straw Hat Pizza. 

In Search of Warm Weather

We found it!  It's almost too warm here in Redmond, Oregon.  And now it's warm at home, too.  We had a week to go on a short RV trip.  We thought about going to Port Angeles, WA and Olympic National Park but when we were making reservations, it looked cool and rainy there, so instead we decided to go to Bend/Redmond.  Now at 5:10 pm, the temperature is 90 degrees and we can't complain about no sunshine!  The humidity here in Redmond is 13% right now, so we this is a "dry heat"!  The temperature at our home in Vancouver, WA is 80 degrees right now, with humidity 43%--not bad at all.   Summer has finally arrived in the Pacific Northwest!

We never get tired of this view of Mount Hood from east-bound Highway 26, west of Government Camp.

The small village of Government Camp.

No decision needed here--we're continuing to head east on Highway 26!  east on Highway 26!

We saw Mount Jefferson

and an interesting rock formation in the Warm Springs Indian Reservation area.

Entering Madras.

The Three Sisters Mountains and the sagebrush terrain of the high desert.

We are staying at the Deschutes County Fair and Expo Center RV Park.  It's a good park, all paved, full-hookups including 50 amps, good free wifi, satellite reception, and a price of $35 per night.  A deluxe RV Park in Bend, Crown Villa, charges up to $80/ night.  No, thanks!  The Deschutes County Fair starts on Wednesday, but we were still able to get a reservation for seven nights.

We love seeing the blue sky above us in site #B7.  Fairgrounds buildings are in the background.

The RV park registration building contains a laundromat, rest rooms, and a meeting room.

In my next blog post, I'll write about our day trip to Prineville, Oregon,  and the Prineville Reservoir.

All is Well

We drove back down to Junction City, OR, today to pick up our motorhome.  The slight crack  near the bedroom slide has been successfully repaired, and we now have another year's warranty in case the crack reappears.

Fragrant flower bed at the Santiam rest area along I-5 south.

We had a great weather day today, mid-70s, with our overnight temperature predicted to be 52.  As much as we've had "no summer" in this area, I far prefer the weather we've had compared to the heat and humidity that has plagued the rest of the country. 

Last Friday night Dave and I had the privilege of babysitting our granddaughter, Sophie, in our home while her parents went out for dinner.  This was our first time babysitting her and she managed to stay awake during the couple of hours that she was here.

Sophie the rugby player. 

Then on Wednesday I went down to Tigard to go clothes stopping with Sophie and Kiersten.  Little Sophie needed a few items and Kiersten found her some things at a very nice consignment store in the Sellwood District.  I managed to get home just as the Portland traffic was getting bad.  It's a good feeling to get out of the traffic and cross the river back into Washington!

Happy Sophie--three months old.

We really don't live this close to Mt. Hood, but this is the view we get when we drive east on Vancouver's Highway 14--that is, when the mountain is "out"!

Meeting Sue and Doug

Today was a special day.  We met Sue and Doug at McMenamins at the Columbia River in Vancouver, WA.  Sue writes an interesting blog called Big Dawg and Freeway. We even got to meet Tucker, their dog, who likes to travel, swim, and run on the beach, among other talents!

Doug and Tucker

I started reading Sue's blog when she wrote about their trip to Lincoln City, OR last year.  I always like to read what people write about places that we've visited.  And when Margie wrote on her blog about meeting Sue and Doug in person at Cabela's in Lacey last summer, I started following Sue's blog along with Margie's.  Sue and Doug live in Coquitlam, British Columbia, which is located east of Vancouver, BC.  They plan to start full-time RVing when Sue retires in a few years. 

Sue and Doug in front of the Columbia River

Sue and Doug were on their way home from their summer vacation, which they spent at Port Orford, Oregon this year.  We were privileged that they were willing to stop and have lunch with us on their way home.  As with the other bloggers we've met, we had a lot to talk about and felt, because of reading each other's blogs, that we already were friends.

It's fun to meet other bloggers!  We were happy to add this nice couple to the list of bloggers we've met, which include Russ and Donna (Travels in Therapy), Ali and Ron (The Wandering Workentins and Alice's Restaurant--Dishing Up Food for Thought) and of course, the late Margie and Bruce Mallin.  Click on the blog names in red to read each of their blogs. 

We were glad to meet up with and spend some time with our new Canadian friends, Sue and Doug!

Home Again

Dave and I arrived home on Friday, as planned.  It's sad to come to the end of a fine trip, but good to be home, too.  I am always raring to go again shortly after getting home.  We've got some things to take care of at home, appointments, meetings, and people to see, especially our granddaughter Sophie, who will be three months old next Sunday! 

On Tuesday we'll take our motorhome to Junction City, OR so they can take a look at a small crack under the bedroom slide that they fixed less than a year ago.  It's under warranty, so I am hoping that they can fix us right up. 

The last leg of the trip was uneventful, and the wind of the previous day had abated as we set out Friday morning.  We came home to a cloudy day, but the sun came out as the day went on.

On the way home, we saw some good views of Mount Hood.

We enjoyed the scenery along I-84.  It's hard to see the Columbia River in this area because of all the trees.  In the next two pictures you can see the clouds that we are driving towards.

Thank you for following along on our Summer, 2011 trip to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Parks!

Crossing and Re-Crossing the Columbia River

We left the lovely golf course at Deer Park bright and early this morning.  After finally finding our way to US Highway 395 South, we made our way through Spokane and onto I-90 West.  At the rest area near Ritzville, we saw this curious sign:

Sure enough, there were the seagulls, feasting at the rest area, only 300 miles from the ocean.

We saw amber waves of grain...

...and places to store the grain.

We saw dust devils.  It was indeed windy as the day went on.

The first time we crossed the Columbia River was in the Tri-Cities at Kennewick.

The second time we crossed the river was at Umatilla, where we entered into Oregon.

It was still very windy as we made our way to I-84.  See why this area is called the Columbia River Gorge?

John Day Dam

And the dam's patriotic U.S. flag

Biggs Junction Bridge near Maryhill, where we will cross the Columbia River back into Washington.

Maryhill State Park, where we hoped to spend the night, was full, so we went next door to Peach Beach Campark.  We were lucky to find a pull-thru site for the evening.  We have no sewer hookups, but we have free wifi, cell service, satellite signal, 50 amp power, and water--all for $30.  They can get those kind of rates because the park is right on the river and enjoyed by both campers and wind surfers. 

Site#69, our home for the night

Little peach trees and big peach trees at Peach Beach Park.

Tomorrow, after we cross the Columbia River back into Oregon, we'll drive for two more hours and then cross the river again near the Portland Airport to get back to Washington.  This summer's vacation trip to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Glacier National Parks will be nothing more than memories and pictures...

...and a rock chip in the motorhome's windshield that looks amazingly like a larger version of all the smashed bugs!