Redmond & Bend, OR

First adventures in Bend, OR

After a good night’s rest, we decided to spend the day in Bend, since that is why we came to this area in the first place. We had a hard time trying to decide where to eat lunch. The kids were trying to get us to to to Wendy’s or something else that we could have had anywhere in the the U.S., but of course we were against that.

First up, Lunch

We eventually decided on a Pizza place called Flatbread Pizza that was attached to a strip mall. We aren’t really mall people, but there were a lot of places to eat, so it was going to be as good as any, I guess. We definitely weren’t going to be going in the mall, much to A’s chagrin. The pizza place was unique in that the children were able to make their own pizzas. The server brought out the pizza dough, and ramekins full of cheese, pepperoni, and sauce for the kids to put together their own pizzas. Jill and I had pizza as well. It took a bit for the restaurant to cook the pizzas, so we were those parents and kept our children occupied with electronics, so that we could have something close to a conversation without the kids complaining. I can hear your criticisms, but sometimes it is what has to be done, for your own mental sanity. We don’t do it often. Moderation is the key.

Tandem Bike for 5

After lunch, we were close to a place to rent tandem bikes for families. Awesome. This would be really cool. So, we rented a bike for the 5 of us.

The boys sat up front, Jill and I sat beside each other with A in the middle. Jill and I were the only one’s with pedals and a steering wheel. Well, we got about 100 yards from the start and got a flat tire. It made pedaling very difficult. So, we turned around and took the bike back.

They filled the tire, and we were on our way. The path went around the lazy river, over bridges, and along a road until it came back to the place we rented the bikes. We got about 1/3 of the way around the trip, and the tire that was flat was again very flat. It made pedaling very difficult and Jil and I. A little hill in this tandem bike with the flat tire felt like we were hauling a ton. I think we didn’t follow the right path along the way as well, because we ended up on a sidewalk in this bike that basically took up the whole sidewalk. It was quite a ride. When we got back to the place we rented it, we told them about the tire and eventually, got our money back. So, the experience was free and quite a story to remember.

Exploring Bend

After we biked around the loop, we drove around the town for a bit. It is a super cute town that I would definitely go back to. The lazy river was often full of people in kayaks or inflatable tubes floating down the river. It looked like a lot of fun, but not very workable with small children. We will definitely have to do it someday when we come back.

We found a playground near the river in Columbia Park and let the kids have fun. There were plenty of other kids at the playground and everyone had a good time. There were great views of the river as seen above, and the flowers you see below were on the way in to the park. The kids had a great time and we were able to let them play while having conversations with each other while they played freely.

That night, we cooked dinner in our AirBnB and had a relaxing evening. I got a couple of chocolates on the way home and had two for desert while the kids were getting ready for bed. It was nice. Jill and I watched some TV to unwind and made our plans for the next day.

July 4th

We also spent July 4th around Bend. I thought about my Mom a bit this day, since she died 6 years ago. I can’t believe it has been that long.

We decided to go up to Elk Lake in the mountains to take the kids kayaking.

Jill, A, and K went in one kayak and C and I were in another. It was beautiful to be out on the lake. We didn’t want to take our electronics to the lake, in case they got wet, so we didn’t get any pictures of our experience. But, we made a lot of memories out on that lake. We encountered some heavy winds at one point, and we had to really row ourselves very hard to get back to our starting point at the end of 2 hours.

We had some daydreams at this point about how wonderful it would be to live in the Pacific Northwest. Getting a set of kayaks (or mountain bikes) and heading out on the weekends to absorb some of some great nature is the stuff of dreams.

Someday.

Most things were closed down that day, but we found a diner called Black Bear Diner to eat dinner that was relatively empty. There was a problem in the town, as most of the electricity was out, so finding out where to get dinner was tricky.

Fireworks and bedtime stories

That night, our neighbors all around the neighborhood were all putting off fireworks for what seemed like hours. As a parent, this is almost always difficult, but we somehow are always able to get our kids to sleep with the fireworks going off and booming all around us. This time it seemed particularly challenging. Some of the neighbors were right behind the house, literally, putting off fireworks in the street right outside of the kids bedroom.

Today was a good day. I had another piece of chocolate for dessert and it was perfect. Jill and I played some Rummikub and got ready for bed to prepare to leave first thing in the morning.