Category: Bend, OR

  • Keith’s 40th and Smith Rock

    Keith’s 40th and Smith Rock

    How better to celebrate your 40th than to set your heart pumping in a crazy beautiful place? Smith Rock is just over half-an-hour from home and the Misery Ridge hike is a favorite of ours. The ‘misery’ comes in the first half of the hike, then it’s lovely Monkey Face and views for miles.  

  • Green Lakes Hike…Almost

    Green Lakes Hike…Almost

    We did not set out to hike 12 miles. Following directions from the guidebook, Bend, Overall, we drove out Century Drive, past Mt. Bachelor, past Sparks Lake, and took a right turn at the sign, ‘Green Lakes Trailhead.’ The only trailhead we saw from the parking lot had a wooden sign marked ‘Soda Creek Trail.’ No mention…

  • Lovely August Evening

    Sometimes an evening just feels perfect. It’s the middle of August, and sweet friends sit around our patio table; conversation and laughter flow; the air is warm and the breeze is cool; there is a cloudless sky and mosquitoes are engaged elsewhere; there is wine, strawberry and cucumber salad, rosemary chicken sizzling away on the…

  • Tumalo Falls Trail Hike

    Tumalo Falls Trail Hike

    You might make a mistake if you drove to the Tumalo Falls trailhead and saw this… then in just 1/4 mile you’re at the top of Tumalo Falls and see this… You might turn around, get back in your car, and skip the 8-mile hike up to Happy Valley and back. But if you stay…

  • Yard è Finito!

    We spent a day raking, hosing, and hauling to clean up the hailstorm mayhem… Ta Da!

  • ‘Ta Da’ Moment Foiled by Gullywasher

    I’d like to begin at the end of the story. I stood in the garage in my skirt, tank top, and flip-flops looking at Keith sitting in the VW with the engine running. The look on my face was of disbelief at the Armageddon-style hail storm pounding our house. Just moments before it wasn’t even raining.…

  • Yard Makeover: The First Four Days

    Our landscape project started on Tuesday morning with four men clad in rain gear, digging, scooping and hacking out our lawn with pics and shovels then carting it away. The rain fell so hard Monday night and before sunrise Tuesday morning that it woke me out of a deep sleep. I wondered if the crew…

  • Yard Makeover! First the trees…

    We started our yard makeover with a visit from an arborist – Mike at Arbor 1 here in Bend. He and his business partner spent the day dangling from our trees, frightening the little squirrel family who had taken up residence in a giant juniper tree, cutting away dead branches, removing diseased and non-thriving trees…

  • Bob’s Birthday, Scouting for Campsites, and The Metolius River

    The day before Bob’s birthday – Happy 69th! (again) – we took a little road trip to see the Metolius River and scout campgrounds north of Sisters in hopes of some August camping trips. The Metolius River is unique in that you can take a short stroll down a path and see it’s mouth –…