Oregon Sampler: Day 3-4

On Wednesday morning, we left Union Creek and headed north toward Bend.  We've heard a lot of great things about this part of Oregon, so we wanted to check it out for ourselves.  As we drove further and further north, the tall forests faded and the landscape flattened and turned less green and more brown.  Bend is on the other side of the mountains, which causes a rain shadow effect, making this area more arid.  It's also really, really hot.

Besides its reputation for adventurers, Bend is also known for its breweries.  In fact, they even host their very own original (trademarked) Bend Ale Trail.  It comes with a map as well as a space for each brewery to stamp their logo as proof that you drank their beer.  Our initial goal was to make it to four breweries.  We more than exceeded our expectations and sampled beer from a total of six breweries: Boneyard, Wild Ride, Riverbend, Deschutes, Good Life, and 10 Barrels.

We ended our day in a motel in nearby Redmond.  To give us the most time in this area, we decided to stay here for two nights.

The next morning, we got up and prepared for our day hike.  In Redmond you will find Smith Rock State Park, a popular location for climbers.  It's an incredibly beautiful area.  The big rocks you see in the photos were formed by volcanoes, as many of the most beautiful geographical features in the world are.  We took a hike up what's called "Misery Ridge," and it indeed was a little miserable.  And it only got harder and harder the higher we got.  The top, however, was really incredible.  In addition to multiple rock climbers (some doing pretty crazy and amazing ascents), we also saw lots of golden eagles and two huge eagle nests on the face of the mountain.  The river made the perfect contrast between the red-faced rocks and the greener valley below.  And even though the climb was more strenuous than it was advertised, the reward was more than worth it.

We spent more than three hours walking around at the park.  The heat was pretty exhausting, so the rest of the day was a vacation day.  We did laundry, we ate light, we watched OITNB, updated the blog.  Good times.  This is what vacation is about. :)