Eugene, Sisters and Bend

We arrived in Eugene in the late afternoon.  We rode into the city and got out our segways and rode along the river in a wonderful linear park.  We saw a rose garden that when you entered it, the smell of roses just enveloped you.  Why we didn’t take pictures there I’m not sure.  Another feature of the park was a “walkable solar system.”  It was a 1: 1billionth scale.  What a great science lesson!   It made us realize how important parks and city planning are to great cities.  We also rode by Oregon University, but since we don’t speak “duck” we were not very impressed.   (Dave continues to express how he thinks the Ducks is a really lame idea for a mascot, only to be surpassed by the Beavers of OSU… It just depends on where you’re from I guess.)

Walking Solar System
(I cut off Mercury... it was a small ball on top of the pyramid!)

Dave at the Sun!

We arrived in Sisters and settled into a great campground.  There is plenty of shade and a duck pond (hey! It’s Duck Country!).  The amenities are pristine.  We could smell the wildfires which are about 6 miles away but in the “mop up” stages.  The Rodeo grounds (think Fair Grounds) next door had been serving as the firefighters staging area and the owners of the campground said that just last week it was a tent city.  There are about a half dozen semi trucks there now that were serving as mobile kitchens for the fire fighters. 

Deb spent part of Monday wandering the streets of Sisters, a quaint little town full of “chotsky” shops.  She bought a few stocking stuffers and finally found some “real” art on a side street.  The fused glass was really nice… and they were very proud of it… ie. $$$$.  Monday night we enjoyed a campfire with Ann and Bill from Southern Idaho.  They had camped in Alaska and had many snow-camping stories.

Tuesday we decided to “do” Bend.  It is a really nice place.  We were impressed with the city planning, art and breweries.  We started with a brochure we had gotten that challenged you to find the 20 pieces of public “round about” art in Bend.  Go to  http://artinpublicplaces.org/gallery.php  to see them.  In the brochure it asked you questions like “On which shoulder is the logger’s ax?” or “How many feathers are on the sculpture?”  If you answered 10 questions correctly and took the brochure to the Visitor’s Bureau, you got a prize ( a special commemorative chocolate bar).  It was a lot of fun and we learned about our map reading and communication skills while getting an overview of Bend.  At the visitor’s bureau we also got a guide to the art galleries in town so we set off to see them.  We saw some nice things but nothing that really “rocked our boat”.  One of the most interesting was a gallery run by twin sisters who do fiber art.  One sister starts and then the 2^nd sister adds to it, and they go back and forth without discussing the final product except for its size.  I’m not sure how they know when they are “done”… but their fabric landscapes were amazing.  http://www.lubbesmeyer.com/ 

Fabric Art

Round About Art

Then it was on to the breweries.  We started at a brew pub for lunch, Old Mill Brewery.    It served both good food and good beer; not only their own, but several other brews from the area.  After looking for hops at a brew shop to no avail, we took the 4 pm tour of Deschutes.  It is the biggest craft brewery after Sierra Nevada.  Their operation was impressive, though very industrial.  One of the guys there is the owner of Brews Cruise and used to work out of Asheville.  We had fun swapping brewery stories with him.  Next we landed at Boneyard which was a nano-brewery.  Their cooler was a chest freezer covered in stickers with taps on the side!  It was a real contrast to Deschutes.  Their chipotle brew would put hair on your chest!!  Thank goodness for the chocolate.  It brought our taste buds back to normal!!

As I write this, Dave is off exploring the lava fields and I’ve enjoyed some “alone time” at camp.  We are staying here an extra night so that we will have TV for the debate tonight.  Then it’s on to Mt Hood and who knows what other adventures!!