Weekend Awesomeness, Bend edition

My wife and child went out of town at the end of June, so I decided to make the most of my bachelor-dom and head to central Oregon for a camping trip and reunion with some friends. My Eugene friends were all competing in the Oyster Racing Series Bend event so that made going to the "dry side" of the Cascades even easier, as I could camp with old friends while meeting up with new ones in town.

Jana & Kohl prepping for their race

Approaching Bend

 The doggers were my sole responsibility for the weekend and we arrived at Tumalo State Park just northwest of Bend about dinner time. I had made plans to grab a pint with my Wanderlust Tours comrades in town that night, so I quickly unpacked my camping gear, fed the dogs, and loaded them back in the car to drive to town.

The evening went too quickly catching up with Jack, Jeff & Dave and I soon found myself driving back to camp shortly after midnight. I knew that the Oyster racers would all be waking at 5:00 a.m. to prep for their completion so I made short work of falling asleep. Sure enough, daybreak came quickly and I was being trampled by Graham & Jake dogs. If you've never camped with dogs in a tent, consider yourself lucky. We packed our gear back into the car, still unsure of where we'd sleep that night, and headed into town for the days' activities.

Graham & Jake doggers enjoying the dog park

My schedule is such that I often don't know what I have planned until the day before it will be happening. That was certainly the case on this trip, so I didn't have time to sign up for the Oyster Race. I was able, however, to register for The Bite of Bend's annual Beer Run. This 3-mile run starts and finishes downtown at a food festival, and incorporates one of my favorite activities, beer, with one of my favorite activities, running. Needless to say, I had a great time! The views of the Sisters mountains were second-to-none, and the air was warm, crisp, and clean. I finished in the top 20%, so I was  very happy with the days' activity.

After running the race and hanging out with a buddy from Bend it was time to hit the road and start toward home. My Eugene friends decided to go camping in another spot for Saturday night, so I met up with them and we headed down the Cascade slope toward Ice Cap Campground, in the Willamette (Wil-am-it) National Forest.

The campground was very nice, secluded and quiet save for the stream that passed just below us, about 50 feet from our tents. We had a relaxing evening playing stump (see photo at left), drinking a few select beers, and telling stories about our races from that day. The night came slowly and we headed to bed as our bodies began to stiffen up from the days' efforts.

Very relaxing fire

The next morning, we packed up camp at a leisurely pace and headed downriver to Eugene. The weekend was a memorable one for all the right reasons; great scenery, exercise, friends and beer!

Koosah Falls, just above our campsite on the McKenzie River

Benternship July 9- DAY 10

This series documents a very special opportunity I had recently. I was accepted as an intern at a company in Oregon that provides naturalist-based guided tours in many different activities that travelers enjoy. All of the entries are taken directly from my makeshift journal, my camera, and my iPod video camera. Items in bold are not original to the journal, they have been added for clarity or reading enjoyment. You can decide which.

10 p.m. Claire is here! Enjoyed (Jeff's) volcano tour with guests and learned a lot. Afternoon weather prevented us from getting on the water, lots of storm clouds and thunder.

The obsidian flows at Newberry Crater are very impressive to see. I've been around obisian rock before, but never in this quantity. This is truly something to check out if you ever get to Bend.

Benternship July 4- DAY 5

This series documents a very special opportunity I had recently. I was accepted as an intern at a company in Oregon that provides naturalist-based guided tours in many different activities that travelers enjoy. All of the entries are taken directly from my makeshift journal, my camera, and my iPod video camera. Items in bold are not original to the journal, they have been added for clarity or reading enjoyment. You can decide which.

2:00 a.m. Now 2:00 a.m.- Happy I-Day! No a.m. paddle so DB (Database) work 'til lunch...Skeleton Cave Tour at 1:00 (Awesome! 3600' long and 100' below the earth's surface) then quick dinner at Parilla (thanks Megan!) and starlight canoe tour with Jeremy and 10 guests. Too tired to write more.

Jeff was my guide for the afternoon cave tour and he shone the brightest in the cave (some kind of problem with that euphemism but I'm standing by it). The way he engaged his clients (four adults, two children) was really enjoyable to watch. I was impressed with his ability to answer any question that was asked while still managing to keep us all on an efficient and enjoyable tour.

Jeremy (starlight canoe tour guide) was a fantastic storyteller, having worked with youth in the outdoors for years before coming to WT this winter. The group we had were all adults, but no matter; Jeremy wowed us all with the scenery of the Cascade lakes and the enchanting stories he wove to explain the stars that we were seeing that night. I could very easily picture him giving a jaw-dropping presentation to younger folks out on a tour.

Benternship July 3- DAY 4

This series documents a very special opportunity I had recently. I was accepted as an intern at a company in Oregon that provides naturalist-based guided tours in many different activities that travelers enjoy. All of the entries are taken directly from my makeshift journal, my camera, and my iPod video camera. Items in bold are not original to the journal, they have been added for clarity or reading enjoyment. You can decide which.

7:00 a.m. Slept ok. Up earlier and very sunny through rain fly. Rained on and off last night. Looking forward to abated dust.

10:45 p.m. Didn't abate much though...did grunt work for Dave- fixed POS (point of sale, not piece of...) machine through BofA merchant services. Four calls at :15 minutes each = one hour! Ran a 5k and went to get new book- Collapse by Jared Diamond. Sampled beer at Silver Moon (video to supplement this) with crappy baked fries with gorganzola cheese. No shower as Jack had offered. He was at a baseball game and never called (found out later that this was b/c he had text messaged me and I don't get texts- bummer!)...stinky tomorrow I guess. Paddle first thing at 8:15 then database with Megan. Sure wish CTR was here.

LOTS OF CUSSING IN THIS VIDEO. I apologize but I'm not G rated when I've had a few beers :)


PS- The Snake Bite Porter is what I'm referencing in the video. Here's the webpage with more info.

*And I totally misused the word "acquiesce" in my video...didn't know what it meant until I returned home to make this post!*

Benternship July 2- DAY 3

This series documents a very special opportunity I had recently. I was accepted as an intern at a company in Oregon that provides naturalist-based guided tours in many different activities that travelers enjoy. All of the entries are taken directly from my makeshift journal, my camera, and my iPod video camera. Items in bold are not original to the journal, they have been added for clarity or reading enjoyment. You can decide which.

12:20 a.m. This morning seems so long ago...Dave, James & Jack were all great to meet. Very kind and Jack was very knowledgeable and a good storyteller. Hung out in office for about four hours; left to go run a 5k on the Deschutes River (!), grocery shop, and set up tent. Dinner was sandwiches and chips/salsa. Back to WLT warehouse @ 7:15 for a starlight canoe tour at Sparks Lake (that's three new lakes in two days for those of you keeping track) with Jack. Four gals (two stayed in van because it was too cold/wet for them). All was great 'til we were back at the lot when one of them fell as I helped her out of the van...I literally feel sick about it. Off to bed now- no beer :(