Day 10 - Around Bend, Oregon

With a 9:00 am breakfast date, we slept in late and finally loaded the car about 8:00. First stop was Fred’s for gas and then The Original Pancake House to meet with Tom and Sharon. A good hour’s worth of chatter got us caught up and then we were off to do some shopping. Tom and Sharon were among our earliest friends when we retired to Redmond.

Our must buy list for Oregon included Andouille Sausage from Carlton Farms in Carlton, Oregon and Portland Ketchup, from where else but Portland, Oregon. Carlton Farms Andouille is the best ever and, barring an emergency, the only one we use. As for the Ketchup, it’s from Oregon, so organic of course and contains sugar, cloves, onion, allspice, cayenne and more. Good stuff.

So, our first stop was Newport Market, when we managed three packages of sausage and two bottles of Ketchup. Realizing we had a little extra room in the ice chest a second stop was made at Market Of Choice for one more package. Four packages, two bottles and shopping was done. On our way out there was Tom and Sharon with their bag of groceries. A short conversation later we headed out on a 38-mile drive to Prineville for a Starbucks.

With a mocha in hand and lots of time before we could check in, we decided on a drive up the Crooked River to Bowman Dam. The Crooked River was a favorite fly-fishing spot in my Oregon days. Beautiful river, easy to wade and fish to catch. Nothing better than standing in the river waving a stick.

I could easily put a fly in this water

For our third night in Bend, we decided on stay at McMenamins Old St. Francis School. McMenamins is a chain of pubs and hotels that the brothers built using old buildings, such as old schools, old hotels and even an old Elks Lodge. Where we are staying was once a Catholic school

They do an outstanding job of rehabbing these old buildings, always building in a lot of special features. For example, here at Old St. Francis School there are a number of different buildings, with guest rooms and bars. In one such building, we took an elevator to the third floor and found the broom closet. Inside there were brooms hanging on the walls of a small, narrow room. I starting pushing and pulling on the brooms and suddenly a part of the wall opened into a very small bar. Pretty neat. Dinner was at McMenamins and very good as unusual.

Tomorrow we start our return home with a drive to Carson City, Nevada.

109 miles today.