Sunday, May 19, 2013

MONKEY HEAD IN BEND…


After an uneventful drive north to Bend, Oregon we land at the Crown Villa RV Resort.  The spaces here are huge and level with beautiful lawns surrounding the sites.  Wi-Fi is great and we can continue researching everything we need to know for our upcoming Alaska adventure.

Monkey Rock
Downtown we discover Navidi Oils, a wonderful shop selling gourmet olive oils and vinegars. They offer fused extra virgin olive oils, which are created when herbs or fruits are pressed with the olives.  (As opposed to infused oils where the flavor is added after pressing.)  The flavors are amazing and we stock up on an assortment of 2 ounce bottles of oils and balsamic vinegars for the reasonable price of $5 each.  We also stop at A Good Drop Wine Shop and procure a couple of bottles of local Pinot Noir.

The weather here is typical for Oregon. (Translation: RAIN… everyday…) It’s a good excuse to catch a couple of movies at the local Cineplex. Both Iron Man 3 and Star Trek into Darkness are fun and stay true to the franchises. Shopping is also a good rainy day activity and we pick up some smaller sized clothes at the local outlet center and a couple of ThermaCELL personal mosquito repellant devices from the Sportsman’s Warehouse.  Since there are no mosquitos currently hovering around our heads we’ll have to get back to you as to their performance, but we’re pretty sure these will be invaluable in Alaska, where mosquitos are reported to be the size of small poodles LOL.

Crooked River
Smith Rock
Rock Climber
Smith Rock

Between thundershowers we head over to Smith Rock State Park for a little hiking and photos.  We hike along the Crooked River teaming with waterfowl to our left and athletic climbers inching up the shear rock walls to our right.  As the trail begins to climb up Misery Ridge (aptly named) to the Summit of the rock we see the famous Monkey Rock from Planet of the Apes. It feels good to be out and using some of the muscles that have been resting through the winter.





We really love this area and the town of Bend, but we have a date in early June with the Ferry in Bellingham so we need to move on…

2 comments:

  1. I was just in Bend (May 17-19)! Such a cool spot! I wish I would have known you were there too... I love reading your blog and seeing where you guys have been! xoxo Katie

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  2. Dammmm
    Wish we had known you were here..arghhh

    Miss you too... I 'll try to be better keeping my latitude up to date.
    (But most of the time we don't know where we are going LOL)

    xoxo
    k

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