While the post-Labor day ‘return to office’ doomsday loomed over us, we still had nearly a month of freedom left.  So we dusted off the Basecamp for a Bend, Oregon finale.

The drive north up the I5 freeway is a somewhat tedious and soul-destroying journey.  Busy traffic and trucks on a Friday afternoon, through one built-up area after another, and no good overnight rest stop options.  A little off the beaten track, a Sam’s Club car park came to our aide.  Once you’re north of Sacramento, the scenery starts to get much more interesting, surrounded by trees and mountains.  That’s more like it! A little lunch stop at Mount Shasta allowed us to stretch our legs in Sisson Meadows before hitting the Oregon state line and pulling into Bend late afternoon.

Bend is really all about bikes and breweries.  So we wasted no time in getting stuck into both.  Darren headed off into the forest to do some single track mountain biking, while I rode the Twin Bridges Scenic Bikeway.  Such a nice ride through farmland and forest (breathe in and smell those pine needles!), with views of Mount Bachelor.  The roads were quiet with mainly horses and cows for company and the odd cyclist.

And the great thing about doing a big bike ride, is that you get to meet up at a brewery with food trucks post-ride.  

Such a good option, the bike/brewery combo, we made a bit of a habit of it, with Darren working his way through the extensive network of Deschutes National Forest trails while I rode the Cascades Scenic Highway.

We took it in turns to cycle to/from work too.  Yes, we were working but the deer hanging around the Haven co-working office kept us company and kept it real. 

The expansive river views from the office were a constant reminder to get out there and enjoy the river trails and summer wildflowers.

We mixed things up a bit with our Basecamp hangouts.  Starting off (and finishing) at The Camp campsite in town.  This was perfect for lazy evenings relaxing by the fire (our only campfire option given the fire ban).  It was also handy for being able to walk to some of our favorite drinking establishments – Crux, Monkless, and the Warming Hut – and to cycle to our favorite personal picnic spot overlooking the Deschutes river.

We found a good boondocking spot (and therefore cheaper option) at ‘Phil’s Place’, one of the MTB trailheads near town.  Handy for Darren’s biking but also close to The Grove food hall with a specialty market deli, restaurants and coffee shops and The Sparrow bakery, one of those where your nose is accosted by a whiff of delicious freshly baked pastries when you walk in the door. And still within spitting distance of the center of Bend.

Further afield, we spent a few nights at Soda Creek up near the Mount Bachelor ski area and therefore rather chilly at night.  Such a pretty area though, surrounded by meandering streams, lakes and meadows that reminded me of Hope, Alaska.

At Tumalo State Park campground, we had a lovely quiet site nestled in the forest, just a short wander or bike ride to one of our favorite food hubs, The Bite.

Our last weekend included the bonus of a weekend visitor.  One of our friends from California, Natalie, had moved to Portland Oregon a few years ago and was looking for just the right excuse to come and visit Bend.  Of course, we showed Nat some of our favorite breweries and hikes, including a walk up Pilot Butte in town and wood-fired pizza and beer from Crux.

We also hiked the river trail at the stunning Smith Rock State Park with Nat.  A herd of maybe 20 deer were running amok, they pounded across the river towards us and then pronked up the hill nearby.  Very cool.  And it’s not every day you meet a guy taking his alpaca for a walk.

All that remained was the drag of the I5 return journey.  But wait, Darren had a better idea.  A diversion via Mammoth Lakes and the much more scenic 395 drive home.  After all, the mountains are calling.

Happy Days!  It’s amazing how much you can fit into a few weekends, with summer daylight hours also providing recreation opportunities before and after work.  This remote working lark has really enabled us to embrace a different type of holiday experience, one where you don’t have to book a whole load of days off work in order to feel like you’re on vacation.  Being back in the office is going to take a bit of getting used to.  But after four and a half years of being on the road, you can’t say we didn’t make the most of it.  So long and thanks for all the fish.  For the next chapter, maybe it’s time to embrace the world a little closer to home.  Sunny Southern California, don’t mind if we do 🙂

Was it really less than two weeks ago we had partied hard in Vegas to celebrate Shelley and Phil’s one year wedding anniversary?  Back to Vegas so soon, although this time just the briefest of overnight stops en route to Colorado.  Less Elvis, more beer.  Probably not the smartest of stops honestly, given we still had to drive over 700 miles the next day.

The plan was a month’s stay at an Airbnb in Keystone, Colorado, back working at our favorite co-working office in Frisco, EVO3.  The rub was that this might be our last proper Colorado trip.  The Final Chapter. Because after Labor Day in September, I am duty bound to become incarcerated in California.  That’s right – four and a half years of freedom working remotely (which we’ve shamelessly exploited) are finally coming to an end.  The powers that be have deemed that thou shalt work from the office.  And not just any office, the office of the company that I actually work for, Princess Cruises in Santa Clarita.

Better make the best of it then!  Starting off with some hiking at Mayflower Gulch in the Ten Mile Range, with fantastic mountain views, wildflowers, and a smattering of snow.

I wasted no time in testing out Aaron’s new boat with a group of EVO3’ers, enjoying some lovely evening sunshine as we hung out in the vicinity of the Dillon amphitheater, soaking up the atmosphere and the free music.

Unfortunately, Darren couldn’t join us for the boat trip as he had to do a race packet pick-up. In a rash moment a month earlier, he’d signed up for the Double Bypass, one of Colorado’s largest, and certainly the most iconic, cycling event (along with its even more challenging cousin, the Triple Bypass).  Starting near Georgetown, the Double Bypass climbs over Loveland Pass and Vail Pass finishing in Avon, racking up 78 miles and 6,500 feet of elevation gain.  As the cyclists set off, they were serenaded by a bagpiper, in a kilt of course, who somehow found enough oxygen to make his bagpipe wail.  

Darren certainly had his work cut out.  But what an epic event, with a supportive, good-vibe community of riders huffing and puffing their way up and over the relentless mountain passes, soaring down the other side, and re-fueling, chatting and bemoaning the last/next section at the aid stations.  He finished with an ear to ear smile, proud as punch with his medal and Double Bypass bike jersey.

We revisited Loveland Pass a couple more times after the Bypass.  Firstly, an awesome hike at 12,000ft with stunning wildflowers and views.

Followed by a grueling bike ride up the other side of Loveland pass from Keystone.  And this time not just Darren but me too.  Admittedly, I do have an e-bike.  But with a climb of 2,750ft over 10 miles, my legs certainly knew about it, even on Turbo mode. As for the downhill, Strava clocked my top speed at 42mph, I think a record for me!

I was lucky enough to celebrate my birthday while we were away.  And what better way to celebrate than a bike ride 🙂 But this time we switched out the mountain passes for a ride to Breckenridge Distillery, which just happens to offer an awesome Happy Hour.

July 2024 seemed to be the month of the moose!  There we were pedaling around the quiet backroads of Keystone on the way back from birthday drinks.  And there, right there by the roadside was a moose, just lazily munching away in the meadow.  He did a bit of a double take as I sailed past on my bike, and then went straight back to his munching.

Speaking of moose, we bumped into another one on the Lily Pad Lake trail in Eagle’s Nest Wilderness near Silverthorne. A young male moose was hogging the trail and as we paused to keep our distance, he walked straight towards us. Luckily, he carried on walking right past us, just going about his business but you never really know. And then would you believe it, on the way back, another moose. A female this time and again, right on the trail. Well, this is all awesome and everything, but we were on a mission to get to Outer Range Brewing before they stopped serving food. Luckily, we made it there in time to wolf down the Thai chicken half bird with bird sauce, an absolute staple highlight of Frisco.

One of the things we really loved about the Airbnb was the little patio round the back, surrounded by wilderness. We made the most of it (when it wasn’t raining) and got some decent use out of the bbq.

We also had the incredible foresight to bring along the Ooni pizza oven, what an inspired decision that turned out to be. In addition to a few pizza evenings for Darren and I, it served as center stage for casual evening catch ups with Aaron and Wilson, and we even invited the Denver/Fort Collins Colorado boys from work over to enjoy home made pizza with us. Ooni with friends turns into a very interactive affair resulting in some unusual topping combos, interesting map-shaped pizzas, and blow-torched eggs.

In between stuffing our faces with pizza, and of course working, we tried to fit in as much hiking and biking as we could.

On our last weekend, we headed further afield to pick up the fabulous Rio Grande bike trail from Basalt.

The other reason we’d headed west for the weekend was to go to the Heritage Fire Festival in Snowmass near Aspen. It’s described as an open-air culinary experience with an all-star cast of local chefs who specialize in nose to tail cooking of heritage breed animals over live fire. It is essentially a diverse array of 20+ food stalls, each touting their own taster sized wood-fired feast. Some standouts were the short rib lollipops (not really lollipop-sized, essentially a slab of melt-in-your-mouth rib, falling off the bone), wagyu steak with corn salsa, slow-braised lamb shoulder, duck tacos with sweet potato puree and gold leaf, and duck tongue on crispy rice. Absolutely mouth-wateringly delicious. The promised free-flowing drinks on the other hand became a bit of a challenge as they gradually ran out of drinks throughout the afternoon, but the food and the ambience on what turned out to be a lovely sunny summers day made up for the lack of planning on the drinks side.

After all that food, we did a big hike the next day up to Elk Camp, high above Snowmass at over 11,000 ft.

In our last week working at EVO, we finally made it back out on Aaron’s boat. After hitting up the container Tiki Bar for a tiki-rita, we briefly checked out the very cool Dillon Amphitheater, headed back to the boat to chill and take in the atmosphere from there, and then hung out on the comfy sofas back at EVO. A very cool evening and fitting way to round off our 2024 Colorado trip.