All is not lost Oregon, we love love LOVED Bend and Hood River ❤️ Happy to say we’ve moved on, put our unpleasant experience behind us, and we’re giving Oregon the second chance it deserves.
First up – Bend, our weekend pit-stop just an hour or so’s drive north of Klamath Falls. It impressed from the off by having an REI outdoors store. I was chuffed to bits to be the new owner of a yellow cycling jacket so bright you must be able to see it from space, along with matching helmet. No more enduring chilly temperatures in just a skimpy bike top for me!
Although I didn’t need the jacket for long before the sun came out on our (very tame and admittedly mostly tarmac) mountain bike ride.
Bend is renowned for its breweries, so we ditched the bikes (not making that mistake again) and tried to get round a few breweries on foot – reduced capacity Covid wait times permitting.
My favorite had to be Monkless Brewing, with its abbey theming, strong Belgian style ales and create your own flights. Gutted no tin tackers though.
Crux Fermentation was another strong contender. So good we went there twice (in two days). It helped that it was the closest brewery to our campsite. Crux had a beer garden the size of a park. It also had big, dark, punch-above-your-weight beers to add to our Basecamp cellar.
The downtown campsite in Bend was also a good score. It had a cozy community feel to it, centered around a communal gathering area with a fire pit and corn hole. Probably conceived pre-Covid, but what the heck, it’s outdoors. In addition to the RV sites, there were a number of renovated vintage airstreams and retro-trendy old-school caravans available to rent, so cute. Our little BaseCamp fit right in.
Such a fleeting visit to Bend. We left feeling there was yet more to see and explore (and more breweries to visit). Bend, we’ll be back!
Got ourselves a snow fix as we traveled through Mount Hood National Forest in the vicinity of 11,000ft+ Mt Hood (the highest mountain/volcano in Oregon). One of those almost slushy snow-bound walks, as the sun turned its attention to making spring happen.
Hood River
So Hood River gets bonus points for being over 80 degrees and sunny when we arrived (the city, not the river, I imagine the river’s a bit colder than that). What a contrast to the snow we’d just left. And perfect timing for the BBQ we’d planned at the campsite, with the intention of meeting up with one of Darren’s work colleagues. Somehow no pics, too busy eating and drinking, but good food, good drink and good company, nuff said.
The Columbia River forms the state border between Washington and Oregon. While we were working for the week in Hood River, Oregon (not actually a river), we were staying over the other side of the river, in White Salmon, Washington. Meaning each morning and evening we crossed the long narrow Button Bridge Road drawbridge from state to state.
In the US it’s not that unusual to live and work in different states, so you can imagine how the decentralized and state-individualistic Covid response has wreaked havoc here. Having said that, California, Oregon and Washington are relatively similar in their approach, and measures like mask wearing and social distancing were prolific, required and enforced.
I rather took to their tag line “Drink Everybody’s Beer”.
Like Bend, Hood River had such a great outdoor vibe to the place. And what a spot for a co-working office, virtually right on the waterfront, spilling out onto a picturesque walking trail we made use of before, during and after work.
Fire pit totally needed, that hot day was a one off.
As always, we tried to get out and about for a few other walks.
The highlight of our pre-work morning activities had to be the bike ride we did along the historic Old Columbia River Highway, which runs parallel to but above the much newer Columbia River Highway. I presume the original one wasn’t called ‘Old’ until they built the new one.
Courtesy of the state park, this road is open to bike traffic only, and at that time in the morning we didn’t have too much company. Much of the trail was through trees, with teasing glimpses of the Columbia River occasionally revealed far below. Imagine how awesome it was to emerge to this viewpoint.
