Date: 22 July 2001 (Sunday)

Start:

End: Cousin Luann’s house, Bend OR (0 miles)

The temperature was 55f when we arose after having been in the forties during the night. The skies were partly cloudy all day, and the temperature reached 76f in the late afternoon.

We got up late and went to church at St Francis of Assisi on 27^th street. Several people greeted us as we came in and at our seats. We thought they were very friendly. Then the priest started the theme for the day – hospitality. He thought the parish was good, but could stand a reminder that everyone entering the church is there because they are a member of the community of Christians and all deserve to be made welcome.

After church, we joined Art & Helen at their house. They drove to the local Pancake House restaurant. The restaurant had a long waiting line when we arrived. Art & Helen ran into many friends from their current church and/or their former church when they lived in Sunriver. There was even a bridge acquaintance chatting with them. We were introduced to many of these friendly and interesting people. Friends took pictures of us.

Art & Dolores had pecan pancakes while Helen & I had Swedish pancakes. They were delicious. The coffee cup was refilled constantly, until I finally put something on top of it. The staff was really eager to please.

This place (Bend) could grow on you. It has a great hospital and health care, all the stores one could ever need, cultural opportunities (orchestra, etc.), parks and other public facilities, and good weather. Art says it seldom gets into the 90’s and snows only a few inches a couple of times a year.

After we left them at their house, we took a ride.

First, we stopped at Lava Land Forest Service park and drove to the top of the volcano. This dormant volcano, adjacent to US-97, rises 500 feet above the road very steeply. At the top is a small parking lot and an old forest service lookout tower. We took pictures of the area from up here, and also of the ancient lava flows that mainly ran off to the northwest.

A ranger came by, so we chatted about this place and about Virginia’s parks. He told us what the little animals were that were scurrying around (Golden Mantle Ground Squirrel). We drove back down, then stopped at the foot so D could take more pictures of desert flowers.

Next, we drove to Luann’s (Art & Helen’s daughter) business, Twin Lakes Resort. You can view the web site at www.twinlakesresortoregon.com. We arrived and looked around little, then toured the store seeking mementos and bought a few.

We found from the cashier in the store that they had suffered a lightning strike to a tall pine about 50 yards from the store (closer to a couple of cabins) yesterday afternoon. Phone service, including credit card verification, is out of commission with repairs not possible until tomorrow. Some other minor equipment was damaged as well.

We found Luann in her office. She took us on a tour. The resort is on leased forest service (USFS) land, adjacent to two forest service campgrounds, one on South Twin Lake, the other on the Deschutes channel into the Wickiup Reservoir. The store/restaurant building on South Twin Lake is the heart of the operation, since it serves users of these other locations as well as her week-long cabin renters and RV park. The cabins are adjacent to the store along the shoreline or above the shoreline on the hill. The RV park is across the road fronting on the Deschutes channel. It’s a great facility in a super location for relaxing.

We sat on the patio with an ale (me) and a wine (D), looking at the lake and the people having fun in and on it. We noticed the ground squirrels again. Luann says they get into everything and are impossible to control. A couple of people threw french fries to them, which they ate.

When we left, we went to the Wickiup Reservoir dam (don’t do this, the road is terrible). After that, we did the rest of the Cascade Lakes drive. This drive loops from Bend, south and west close to Twin Lakes Resort, then north and then east around Mt Bachelor back to Bend. Mt Bachelor is a favorite skiing location in these parts.

We continued on to the little house in the driveway to have a simple dinner there – we’ve been eating far too well.

Morgan left the house after a bit with her two sisters, Galyn and Eryn, whom we now met for the first time. We’ll try to arrange dinner tomorrow night with everyone.

After I started typing these notes, one of Luann’s dogs (Quani, although they sometimes call it Toad) barked, which called our attention to a pair of male deer with nice antlers about 50 yards away, across the aqueduct. We left the trailer quietly with the video camera and managed to walk close enough to them to get a few shots. It was dusk, so they may not be usable. (D got them on tape, though)

We’ll have to get to bed early – we take the truck to be service early in the morning.