Bend, And Sisters, Oregon

This past week we have been parked in Bend, Oregon. Bend is in Central Oregon on the East side of the Cascades. We have driven through this area but never spent any time here. From Bend you can see 7 major peaks of the Cascades. The picture below was taken from Pilot Butte which is located in the middle of the city. On the night of the Harvest Moon we drove back up there and watched the sun go down and the moon come up. We found out that the Bend Oktoberfest was being held on the Saturday that we were in town so we went downtown and checked it out. The food was fantastic! I got a White Brat and Josie had a Pierogi Dumpling. One of the longest lines was for the Oregrown Booth, one of the local Cannabis shops. You can see by the picture below you could spin the wheel and win from a dollar joint or up to thirty dollars off anything at the booth. The highlight of the fest was billed as the Wiener Dog races. There were 8 heats of 8 dogs each with the 8 wieners (Pun Intended) racing in the final. Not sure what all the hoopla was for as 95% of the dogs never made it to the finish line. Most were so scared they froze or ran back around the starting gate. This was sponsored by the Humane Society and not sure it was good publicity. 

 Bend has over two dozen micro-breweries and many of them have restaurants that are rated among the top 10 in the area by Trip Advisor. At 10 Barrel Brewing we had a fantastic meal of Northwest Mussels and a Tri Tip sandwich. As with many micro-breweries 10 Barrel has been bought by Anheuser Bush. If you can't beat them buy them. The main advantage for the micro-brewery, besides making a large amount of money, is now they have a major distributor. We talked to one of the owners and he seemed to be happy with the way Anheuser Bush was treating them and letting them do their own thing.  I hope that continues for them. We also ran into a group of young folks who seemed to be having a great time on the Cycle Pub, a rolling bar that the customers pedal from Brewery to Brewery, filling up a growler at each and drinking it on the way to the next stop. We would like to try this but you have to have at least 6 people in your group and they don't mix groups.
 One day we drove up to the small tourist town of Sisters. We did a lot of window shopping but all we bought was a jar of Marionberry Jam. The Marionberry is a hybrid Blackberry developed by the University of Oregon. We had a nice lunch at Three Creeks Brewery, the number one rated restaurant in Sisters by Trip Advisor. 

This area of Oregon is a very good birding area. I tagged along with the East Cascades Audubon Society on an all day trip to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. You may be familiar with Malheur as it was the site of a takeover by followers of the Bundy family from Nevada. On the day we were birding those involved were on trial in Portland. The refuge headquarters was still closed as they continue to repair the damage done during the takeover. The car I was riding in got a flat and while two people worked on it the rest of us supervised.  A few days later I birded the Sisters area using tips I received from the locals. Sisters is known for having 11 species of Woodpeckers in the area. I was only able to photograph three but getting a picture of a White Headed Woodpecker was fantastic.  We hope to come back next year for the Woodpecker Festival and see all 11 species. 

Tomorrow we say goodbye to Oregon and drive to Mt. Shasta, California for a short three day visit.