Bend and beyond...

As mentioned previously, we went to the local rodeo. It was actually in the town of Sisters which was about 20 mins out of Bend.

We chose to arrive in time for the Saturday night program of events. The carparking attendants were the "Sherrifs Posse" as you can see written on the horses blanket behind the saddle.

They would ride through the carpark on their horses and lead us where to park. It was a very popular event and the main carpark was full by the time we arrived.

Therefore, we were directed to park amongst the contestants. This is a classic example of the contestants rigs. The BIG truck pulling the trailer that seemed to house the horses as well as the crew in the front half of the trailer. It is a very big thing here and the contestants travel around through a series of rodeos until the finals in Vegas. on average they travel 40 - 50,000 miles per annum. Not fun I say!

There was a great atmosphere once we entered the grounds. This little booth was to sell the 'chits' to get a beer.

There was a nationally popular fun act with a one armed rider who rode around cracking a whip whilst the voice over told the story of the approx 6 million buffalo in the USA that once white man came literally reduced to only 200-300. Blah blah blah... anyway the upshot is... 2 buffalo came out... amazing creatures... more stuff happened too dull to explain unless you were there and drinking beer... (we had one or two)

The following day we sadly left Bend, even though the owner of the house we were staying in, rang and offered for us to just stay on a few more days as she loved Aussies... An offer very tempting but we soon realised to accept it was to sacrifice other opportunities to see new places as planned.

Therefore we headed out and before long we came to this amazing gorge on the Crooked River near Redmond, north of Bend. This gorge was not discernable until you were literally a metre from the edge.

Actually this was one of the signs at the carpark as we pulled in. Interesting!!!!

The gorge was 300 ft deep and pretty awesome.

From there we continued north up through Mt Hood region. This was at the top of the pass. As you can see we are close to the tree line. It was reasonably warm considering the temps we had been expereincing the previously few days.


Once through the pass we were able to see the next montain in this range which is Mt St Helens. This impressed particularly the boys due its 30th anniversary of erupting. We stopped for a great sandwich in a local general store. Fun guys there serving micro brews on tap so they dont have to drink and drive from other pubs!!!


From there we drove along the Columbia River Gorge which lies between the states of Oregon and Washington. It was a VERY wide and awesome gorge. One of our stops was the Bonneville Dam. We were thrilled to have timed our visit with when the salmon are heading up river. Since the dam is in the way they have built ladders for them to climb up. It was very interesting to see Sockeye, Chinook and many other types that we have only ever heard of, struggling their ways up river to spawn.



This is a side on pic of the Acadia for those who care!


Several stops along the gorge were to see waterfalls. This one in particular was spectacular and 620 ft high, the Multnoma Falls.

That night was arrived in City of Olympia which is the capital of Washington State. This was our dinner at Budd Bay Cafe. We all had wonderful local seafood. Dishes from tempura oysters, through blackened salmon (cajun spices) and linguine seafood.

A final note on Oregon. We LOVED it. Our time in Central Oregon was great and we loved the people, scenery & feel of the places we travelled through and stopped at. Would love to have more time here.