Talked to this old retired guy from south Florida (he remimded me a lot of my dad)...he and the wife had moved Bend after his working years....a number of years ago...and now he thinks they should move again. He's disappointed a bit. He and wife bought a house in southwest Bend with nothing but forest forever behind him.....and now that's all turned into more housing. He's been here 13 years....says it's too big now....too congested.
He mentioned that OSU is building a campus here up by COCC (Central Oregon Community College) expecting to have 5,000 students there. Bend used to be just a ski resort town. Now it's sports fests year around.
He says Brookings (because I had mentioned it as a possible place to go to move to next) gets a lot of rain and that it gets to ya.
He talked of the fires here....some that really swept through the area....especially the one up on Hwy 20 ....the Metolius forest fire.
He mentioned (because I did) that Mt. Shasta is likely nice now.
When Bend gets colder....as the ski season approaches....it gets really crowded.
He mentioned the pop was 50K when he came here. I remember seeing the sign that it was 80K now. I'm thinking I think I would like that OSU has a university here....I think it will generate a lot of opportunity, but I can understand his view too....he had hoped to have moved for the small town offerings for his last days.
So I'm sitting there conversing and my feet feel more bare ....the cold is just going right through my shoes.
A guy in the bathroom I talked to about my trip and Bend....he had shorts on.
Got out of Starbucks eventually and went to look around a bit.
The Source Weekly is off Franklin in Old Bend at the corner of Bond and Georgia.
Just sought of Drake Park at Kansas and Congress Street is all very nice stately homes mixed with the old town stuff...love that. It's kinda like a bit of Riverside, Illinois where by mom grew up mixed with a bit of older homes like that of Wallingford in Seattle....tho many of the older homes are either BIG or small.
This house in Old Bend is a bit like homes in Seattle in the Wallingford area.....
This is one of the houses on Congress Street....
It's artsy here in Old Bend....funky...love that....like Riverside Market below:
Harmon Park area housing along the Deschutes River....a bit more money for these homes tho not as nice as south of Drake area. This home, near the river, was all dressed up for Halloween....
Bag Ladies of Union Street - consignment shop. Can I get a shopping cart there?
Like the Galveston Street area of Old Bend.
Saw a deer at Newport and 14th by the roundabout there.
Newport Avenue Market....need to check that out sometime. Independent. Neighborhood market. Good size. I'll bet lots of specialty foods, fresh veges and better meats and fish.
Kanpai Sushi, Kebaba....and bit of restaurants here to check out here on Newport Ave.
Went to Backporch coffee place to write. It's 935am. Got a peanut butter chocolate cookie that was to die for and a fav coffee: Ethopian Adamo.
Very nice place this coffee shop. If I lived here I'd be coming here a lot. Cool sort of cold, but ok....warmer than the freeze at Starbucks earlier.
Caught up on Twitter.
People are happy here in Bend....it's very evident. "Happy" floods the energy here. I can feel that.
114pm....left the coffee shop.
Having spent a night, a day and part of today here....I could easily see living here. It has the natural wood look, just the right amount of vegetation, different neighborhoods, lots of outdoors, lots to see and explore, well kept just about everything here, good places to eat and hang out in, active sports gear places, decent stores....very self-sufficient all the way around.
Decided to leave Bend and head down to Sunriver.
Azillion Beads....on Greenwood Ave.
Mini Pet Mart off-center dog houses.
Lightening Lube.
Eco-Kidz Preschool......1/2 the math problems and partial reading perhaps?!
Really great weather here for an October.
Reed and 3rd....that's where the Starbucks is that I spent a lot of time.
130pm .... 679 miles so far.
Just Joe's Music.....don't get any ideas. No other soloists here.
Got onto 97 at the end of 3rd in the south of Bend.
131 miles to Klamath Falls.
High Desert Museum......Wildlife.....what are these trees doing here? (didn't go to see it tho)
Lava Lands Visitor Center.
There is lava at the edge of 97....it comes from a small powder cone. Tried to get to the Lava Lands visitors area, but it was closed. The area tho looks pretty cool ....lots of trails that apparently lead up to the top of the cone. From there I took Cottonwood and paralleled the freeway for a bit going south.
The Lava River Cave was closed as well...but I could see it from the roadway some....deep....steep....straight down. It's closed Oct 1 to April 30....but I would come to see this if I lived here for sure. It's closed because during that time it's a bat habitation time.
Took S. Century Drive off 97 for Sunriver.....it's about 2 miles from 97. It's far down from Bend tho....so this is why we had to leave so early in the '78 ski trip....we had to go up to Bend to get to Mt. Bachelor. The road from Sunriver to the junction hadn't been built yet: see this article. It hadn't been approved till 1983. What was there was an old dirt road.
Took Abbott Drive to Sunriver (at the Sunriver sign roundabout area)....the energy is just flooding in from '78 when I was here. There is a lot new here, but it's clear this area I remember enough to be able to know what was here and what's new.
I parked and went to look around. I took my old pamphlets with me. (note: Sunriver started in 1968.....so I was there in 1978 Jan 8-13....before any renovations, but four years after an insurance company had taken hold of it.)
These are pictures from the phamphlet on Sunriver I had from back in 1978.....
I first went to The Great Hall....I had noticed a bit of added building space around it and connected to it since I had been there. I did find the hall tho where the Ski Club in '78 held their dinners and raffles of the ski equipment (below of how it looks today....and it's exactly like I remember if from back then)
I walked in and stood at the door looking in....edged closer inside...and even writing this I am filling up with tearful emotion from the power of so many memory markers of my time there flooded in...I could hardly contain myself. One person was at a table on his laptop...perhaps staff...he had remained silent during my time there. I felt so many of those who were, back then, in that room....outlines of auras and shadows of the people who were in that room, the stacked up raffle prives of skies and related equipment, the tables dressed up for the meals we had there, the people at the fireplace end talking to all of us, and how the whole room was dressed up for Christmas time. The energy flow of 'welcome back' with opened arms flowed and grabbed hold of me.
I spend a bit of time there looking about with water filling eyes. I was so enveloped in my past experience there that I just about fell apart. I had wondered if I were to fall to the ground and I not woken up it would be ok. I was in a place of home with good people and friends there. I remember the spiral staircase, all the natural woodwork and logs, the upper walkway, the huge rock fireplace. I could almost see the piles of ski equipment up to be given away to those who had the winning raffle tickets, people sitting at their table socializing, a faint set of voices lingering still throughout. This is a magical place for me....and I thanked Mary for making it possible for me to be here.
Despite nearly four decades since being at Sunriver Resort there were enough substance of my past still about filled with the spirit of those whom I spent time with there. I had hoped for it and I am glad my hopes could be realized....I needed them to be....to touch and be touched by this memory I have carried with me all this time. I had taken the chance to learn to ski, went up with people I would get to know, taken the long train ride, the buses to and from, staying in what became a great resort and just go for a week worth of fun. And here I am in a place from so long ago reliving parts of one of the best memories of my life....the images of that time were here....and I felt like I had walked into a kind of home. My experience froze me in that room. And no matter how many times I read this now and look at this picture of this room...I am still taken by it.
I went next to the main lodge not knowing what to expect. I introduced myself to the hostess inside and other women staff members and my reason to be there, showed them my old brochures of the place, learned what was redone and renamed, how the place has grown into a bunch of other communities now all referred as Sunriver tho not part of the Sunriver Resort set, explained why we had to be up early for the buses to take us to Mt. Bachelor to ski....they had thought why we didn't take the road from Sunriver....(well it hadn't been built yet I learned later). Potters Wheel is Carson's today....no memory markers there since the remodel....sometimes spirits don't stick around if there isn't anything to cling to....and that was obvious there now. Twisted now (bar, dance area) was the Owl's Nest back then....memory markers were there tho fewer than from back then of who spent so much time there.
I talked to a couple there from San Diego.....she sells Windstar cruise trips, was born in Redding, CA. Her husband, who reminded me of another friend of mine (Rob), talks in that 'figuring you out and what to say' tone, but listening and wanting to know more of my past time at Sunriver. They agreed that Sunriver is the only one of its kind in the area, of what a truly special place it is.
3:26pm now.....
I went to the condos likely that we stayed in back then...had to drive about some in some of the cul-de-sacs to feel the right energy to determine if, indeed, this is the right group....some were not, but I did find the right group. I could feel the buses waiting for us. I could see the snow about that was there back then, the cleared walking areas, parked cars, ski trip guests about. It wasn't as riveting of as The Great Hall....tho it was a more fun 'I was here' moment.
Didn't go to find where the sock hockey was held....had later looked at the skate ring in The Village...but it didn't look familiar. Just not sure. Had thought it was near the Great Hall.
You've got the high Cascades on one side and low mountains eastward....inbetween is nothing by flat for what looks like a 100-mile radius. But it's nice and Bend isn't really that far north of Sunriver.
So left from there and headed south with the idea of reaching Klamath Falls.
357pm ....La Pine....
What's up with the Vertical Church of God?
You can get broasted chicken here.
This is a fly by going through it kind of town.....and I'll be the florist knows everyone.
Stopped at the Wickiup Junction store for some water and munchies. Lots of Halloween full standup monsters in the store....very cool. They sell a lot of expired stuff. They got pin-head talkies, trapped in a mirror mirrors. Next door is the Broasted Chicken you can get at Vic's Bar & Grill. Broasted way of cooking is using a pressurized dryer. Didn't get any tho.
It's flat around here like that of Athol, Idaho.
Sign...."La Pine ...The Outdoors at your Front Door" - yeah, well it's out in the sticks.
Turns out La Pine is bigger than just around Wickiup Junction. Really spread out housing....more like...damn Vern...it's spacey kind of place here.
I can't imagine what holds La Pine together except maybe the cost of housing. But it's a drive to Bend.
From La Pine one can take 31 to Reno.....ya know if you just gotta go and pull a handle.
442pm ....I'm in Gilchrist....and here is a place you can go worship at the "Our Lady of the Snows".
There's a mill of some sort here....so I expect this is a company town. Dirt roads everywhere.
And....this sign that tells you which direction to go ...well ....lots of places.....including Nampa...perhaps Santa's hideaway after Christmas......
Next was a town called Crescent....where you can buy guns, liquor and ammo (in that order) from Ken's Sporting Goods.....which you might need if you are planning on eating at the Mohawk Restaurant down the street. Drove through and around town here. Near 6th and Steven there is a guy who waves at you....well everyone who drives by I guess. It's that kind of place. You hang up your working days, sit in a chair and wave at people.
This is a logging town. Everybody's real friendly....you get this feeling tho they might want to eat you.
And then there is Riddle Road.
Ok...so drove past Oakridge Eugene Highway 58 and the gauntlet starts....and it's getting hilly.
And here's this big commercial truck and on the back is a big " O "....and I'm thinking the driver is just giving a heads up on what a zero he is....yeah, I know....Oregon State University.....like there's a difference.
515pm....Chenault....so far 749 miles
There's a big ice cream cone sign next to a working propane tank. Must be the vanilla gas flavor.
There's a Pilot truck stop here.
Oh darn....it's gotten flat again.
On both sides of this two lane highway are DO NOT PASS signs facing you. Really....that's a problem?! Or are there places you can pass if you are on the other side of the road?
Crater Lake turnoff.....530pm now, 759 miles into the trip. It would be 37 miles to Crater Lake from there, but decided to keep going toward Klamath Falls.
It's 60 miles now to get to Klamath Falls.
Oh....and it's flat some more. Oh... and I'm going downhill now.
Can see Mt. Shasta from this far away.
786 miles.....
Near Collier Park.
422 exit 247.....792 miles....'Hello is this Vern?.......yes Wilbur it's Vern....did you say take the 247 exit 422 or the 422 exit 247?'
I'm telling you the Welsh are secretly moving into the States.
Chiloquin National Park area.
26-miles to Klamath Falls.
At this point could take 68 for the 37-miles to Crater Lack....this is the south entrance.
It's hard to believe that for the '78 ski trip that the Trailway buses drove this far from Klamath....I mean it's a long trip from there to Sunriver.
I'm at a point now where there is quite the drop down (soon after mile marker 241 you'll see the steep grade sign with the semi-truck on it) as if from a side of a mountain all the way to the bottom....just have driven off a ledge in a way from one plateau to one lower. It's pretty cool.
Eventually came to the start of Klamath Lake. At some points the lake is about 5-8 miles wide. The length is about 20 miles. But it appears to be quite shallow. Later I check that...and it's about 8-45-feet deep pending where you are. So didn't see any boats on it except way over on the western shore a sailboat....with what I would think would be a rather long keel. Maybe it's the wrong time of the year for boating. There were a few utility like boats about. Sort of surprised that there are not bunches of small boats or harbors. I looked later on a map and there are some really small harbors on the west side. Further looking online and apparently boating is in the Upper Klamath Lake area (the northern end of the lake).
This area along 97 alongside the lake looked like a great place for sunsets because you can see so far west. The sun was going down as I came into the Klamath Falls area.
Looks like lots of birds on the lake and many of them clearly standing ....so must be very shallow along the shorelines.
628pm....reached Klamath Falls town. Pilot truck stop here....I could take a shower in the morning here.
Turned off 97 for Weed Street later to visit the Amtrak train station, but wanted to drive about the area, find somewhere to eat first.
Lots of arid looking areas and short trees.
The Human Bean....they must be growing people and making a drink out of them.
655pm ...stopped at an asian buffet for eats. Reasonable at $13.xx....got enough to eat. It's across from the Toyota/Subaru dealership. Finished eating about 751pm. Slept for any hour in the parking lot. Really needed that.
I had no problem finding the train station that the Amtrak train had stopped at years ago when I went on the 1978 SJSU Ski Trip to ski at Mt. Bachelor. The train had stopped here for us to unload and get into the Trailway buses that took us to Sunriver Resort where we stayed. It as so amazing to be here. It had been 37 years. There is so much good energy here. I can feel the memory markers here, feel the 200+ of us here from that time....I was a bit in a trance walking the area between tracks and around the train station which I think looked about if not the very same as it did back then.
And to my surprise, after spending about an hour here,....a train from the north was coming south, about 915-ish pm ....a Coast Starlight....the very same type of train that took us all from San Jose to here and then later in the ski trip back to San Jose. I didn't plan to be here for this train....I was just lucky. I sat on a bench facing the tracks at the back of the station. I watched the people get off the train.
This is the current phamphlet about the Amtrak Coast Starlight train and schedule....
Waiting around for whatever (later that train coming in) I had talked to a guy who has worked there for the past 20 or so years.... he gets on the train there and works on it till the next whatever stop and then returns. I think he lives here in Klamath Falls. A number of people showed up to get on it and to greet those getting off it. He said to the other workers...."Just remember....everything I say is a lie." I said...'aha, another Star Trek fan.' And he says to the guys that I understood since they didn't get it. I mentioned why I was there to him. He was amazed about it all that I told him....the ski trip, SJSU, Sunriver, etc. He wondered where Sunriver was...I had said about 15 miles south of Bend. I had noticed he mentioned our conversation to one of his co-workers....some grey-haired guy. I was pretty touched by it all. So cool.
I picked up some Coast Starlight schedules here.
I spent a bit of time remembering. It seemed as if I could hear and see the outlines of us all there from back then. This was one of my best times on this trip. It does seem that experiencing memory markers is best when there isn't a whole lot of people around as if to make room for all those who were once there.
I left the Amtrak station about 10 pm. The train had left about the same time. I'm guessing the buses took us from there to Main Street, to 6th, to 9th and north on the freeway. About the same route that I took this time around to get here.
Again....thank you mary for making this possible. Another place of magic....this ski trip that I went on back then...I won't ever forget it. I think it is one of the very best things I ever did in college.
I did come apart some at the station from what I could feel being there. Writing this ....I am feeling that now.
I drove around in the dark checking out the town.
Nerds R Us.....and later The Gun Store which happens to be across the street from the Klamath Falls Courthouse.....how convenient I suppose if you don't get the verdict you were hoping for.
Town is old, run down...lots of vacant shops. Pretty dead town at 1025pm. I think the people who are there during the day are stored in a warehouse at night. Oh....look over there...a few bars and pool halls.
Got down to Quality Inn area...big lake....later learned this is part of Klamath River called Lake Ewauna. Nice park here too.
1041pm ...stopped at a Chevron north end of downtown to clean my windows...so buggy.
Gigler's Health Foods on 6th Street....so fitting at times.
Drove by a motel where the sign said they have a Babe Ruth Discount. I guess that means you bring in a Babe Ruth bar....or ashes of Babe Ruth....maybe an autographed bat or mit....
Outlaw Motorcycle.
The Oregon Institute of Technology is here.
Did I mention that downtown Klamath Falls isn't so hot looking? It isn't.
The McDonald's lobby here was closed...so that's out for something to eat....so went to Pilot truck center close by to get some water and munchies. Showers are $12....so will get on in the morning.
1159pm....stopped at a Walmart outdoor hotel to sleep. Had to move the car a bit to get away from all the parking lot lights. I slept in the backseat with the front driver's seat reclined all the way down so that I could stretch out over it. That was better. No leg cramps. I did get some better sleep this time. Saw a lot of seagulls here....hadn't seen any so far in the trip. A bit interesting given how far it is to the ocean.
End of this day.
