Bend - Day 6 - Portland to Crater Lake

After dropping Kerry and Jill off at a godawful hour in the morning, 6am, Marisa and I slept in, repacked the cooler and finally got on the road to Crater Lake around 11. We met my new friend Dean (who I met at an online dating site) at the visitor's center, he was coming back from Montana and met up with us to take us rafting. It was almost too good to be true. I love rafting!





All of the campsites at Crater Lake were full so we drove out of the park and down the mountain to Diamond Lake. This campground was really awesome! Because we didn't have reservations we had to stay in the sites farther away from the lake but we still had a view of it. Because it was mid week, we had our pick of Loop H. The sites on the lake were out of control, they were literally right on the lake shore with a view of Diamond Peak and the surrounding mountains. We got there just as the sun was going down, had a yummy stir fry dinner and a great fire show that Dean put on from all the fallen dried up trees around us. The next morning it was off to find a place to raft. We knew we wanted to raft the rogue, but we hadn't figured out where to go yet.

Bend - Day 4 - Heading to Bend

Marisa wanted to take us to a great breakfast place in downtown Portland called Mothers, but unfortunately when we got there, it was a 30min wait so we walked down the street to Morning Star Cafe. We loved our food and the prices were right but we had to wait almost and hour for the food because the head chef had walked out that morning. We could of just gone to Mothers. Oh well.



The 3 hour drive to Bend was gorgeous, we stopped along the way to pee and enjoy the trees and bridges.



There was a cool bridge we stopped at. I'm not sure what the girls are doing with their arms but it's cute.





We registered for the race at the Foot Zone in Bend and had a bite to eat at The Tavern. The chicken sandwiches were amazing.



Our campsite at Tumalo just outside of Bend was a sweet little family campground. Our site ended up being right next to the playground, so it wasn't exactly private but we were only there for one night. After setting up our tents, we took a short jaunt to see the lovely Deschutes and went to bed early for the big race the next day.

Bend - Day 3 - Portland Bound

In the morning after breakfast, we played with our pet deer and chipmunk. Actually those little chipmunk buggers were quite invasive and tame. They were trying to eat with us for every meal and one even tried to jump in my car where the food stash was.



We headed to Portland to pick up Jill and Kerry. Their flight was scheduled to arrive around 7:30pm. We rolled into town around 4:30 with some time to kill. Then we found out we had even more time to kill because their flight was delayed due to weather until 10:30pm. Apparently they had met a guy in the airport bar and were having a great time with him. He asked them to join him and some friends at a bar called McFadden's in downtown Portland. They said they'd take a cab with him from the airport and we should just meet them there. Marisa and I checked into our hotel in Vancouver, Washington just across the bridge. Marisa got a great deal on a room at the Marriott because her friend works for them. We showered and gussied up to go out and eat downtown. Kerry had done research all day on healthy hip places to eat and had scoped out a place called The Observatory in SE Portland.

The Observatory was delicious and had a great vibe. The Quinoa-Mushroom Veggie Burger left me salivating for more and Marisa loved her Shrimp Curry Rice plate. Prices were very reasonable considering the ambiance and health factor - $8 for the burger and $10 for the shrimp. (According to Kerry, they've got great cocktails too.)

It was only 9pm by the time we were done. We went downtown and parked near the river front. McFadden's was not exactly what we were in the mood for. It was actually a dance club that hadn't gotten going yet. We walked in to a nearly empty club with TV's hanging everywhere playing 80's MTV videos, the one currently playing was "I Wanna Sex You Up" and the Color Me Bad boys were dancing and singing it up oh so awkwardly. (I think JT and Andy Samberg were inspired by these guys when they wrote Dick in the Box.) I was riveted by the videos but Marisa gave me the ole let's go sign and we set out on our tour of downtown Portland at night.

After an hour of walking, we found the perfect little corner loungey bar with a 20's jazz trio playing and a cute couple dancing. It was the Living Room Theater and was attached to a real theater playing independent films. We sat down at the bar, ordered some drinks and awaited the girls arrival. They showed up around 11 without the guy from the airport. We sat at a table, caught up and had some drinks and tapas while watching the couples dance. Loved that place. It was so LOLA. For some reason, we weren't taking pictures as much that day. Wish I would've captured more of Portland.