Getting Our Feet Wetter

We are on another short trip to prove to ourselves we still know how to travel.

Last week we spent a day exploring the older part of Bend, Oregon. We’d been to and through Bend in the past, but I had never seen the downtown or the neighborhood along the river called Old Bend. It was lovely and it was vibrant. We spent time looking at the shops downtown and walked through Drake Park and around Mirror Pond. We enjoyed it, but I got worn out. I had trouble with the heat and the aridity. I’ve lived in Phoenix and I’ve lived in Iceland, but I find that as I get older, the range of conditions in which I am comfortable has become more narrow.

On our walk around Mirror Pond, we were a little surprised to see a visitor to the center of town.

We returned home through Sisters, Oregon, which is a lovely drive this time of year. Then after a few days at home we set off again. This time we drove up the Columbia River Gorge in what I think of as Portland weather: It’s not really raining, but if you go outside you get wet.

But it cleared by the time we got to Hood River. We crossed the river at Biggs Junction to follow the road north through the huge grass-covered rolling hills to Yakima and spent the night in Ellensburg.

In the morning we drove east to George, Washington (home of the Martha Inn), then followed a torturous route up through Leavenworth to cross Stevens Pass back to the west side of the Cascades.

Tonight we are in Burlington. On the east side of the mountains, there were lots of two-lane roads where everyone has to go at the speed of the slowest car or truck. And road construction can bunch us all together. On this side of the mountains, we all zip (or crawl) along on multilane roads but with LOTS more traffic.

Some of the car chargers are in shopping malls or the parking lot of motels, but there are a few that seem to be in the middle of nowhere. This is the one up the hill west of Leavenworth:

This is another short trip to see how we do after our experience in Bremerton. We expect to return home in a couple of days.