Brown Dog Goes to Bend

Ann and I, we promised ourselves to explore our adopted state of Oregon once we were able to. Our old dog Charlie was unable to travel and that limited our excursions to nearby day trips. With his passing about five weeks ago, we vowed to start exploring, even though we didn't much feel like it right after saying goodbye to Charlie. Our other dog, Grace, who goes most often by the moniker Brown Dog, loves to travel though and would love to accompany us. 

Our first destination would be Bend, Oregon, a city across the Cascades that we have been wanting to visit for a long while. We had been thinking of taking an overnight in Bend for a couple of weeks, but the weather hasn't been terribly cooperative. It has rained for about the last ten days here in the Willamette Valley, not terribly unusual for this time of year at the beginning of our rainy season. This is not four-season country; we have four months of drought and eight months of rain.

Though the weather patterns are different here in the valley and there on the far side of the Cascades, this recent storm off the Pacific was vast enough to bring to rain to Bend as well. Finally, despite it raining in McMinnville, we got a break for a day of sunny weather in Bend and we set out. The weather would get better and better as we traveled inland for our first visit to Bend.

Raining in McMinnville

Brown Dog is Ready to Travel

Not Used to the Rear Bucket Seats in Ann's New Used Car

From McMinnville, there is basically one way to get to Bend. We're used to the limited places to cross the Willamette River and thus the limited ways we can travel locally. But crossing the river is child's play compared to crossing the tall Cascade range on the eastern side of our valley. The sole road to Bend is Oregon Route 22 which crosses the mountains (in good weather) at Santiam Pass. Crossing the mountains is not a quick affair: the 160-mile trip takes just shy of three-and-a-half hours. As an aside, imagine the disruption this time last year when the massive wildfires closed a 40-mile or so stretch of Route 22. 

Heading south out of McMinnville, the first leg of our trip had us driving through our local farm and wine country to the nearby state capital of Salem, and then heading east into the hills on 22. Fall in the agricultural Willamette Valley can be spectacular and our drive today would show some peak fall color, despite the showers and gloomy skies. Down on the valley floor, the vast fields of blueberry bushes have changed to showy scarlet color while higher up, the masses of Pinot Noir vines were golden, row upon row of brilliant leaves cladding the hills.

Fall Color in the Eola-Amity Hills

Still higher on the hills below the point where mixed flora gives way to a carpet of conifers, the colors were a patchwork of black-green Douglas firs interspersed with golden-leaved big leaf maples. The odd Oregon white oaks added a russet note here and there. From time to time, a red or sugar maple would add a fiery orange-red note, mainly around dwellings. It truly is a magnificent time of year to travel.

Typically Willamette Valley Fall Color,
Black-Green Douglas Fir and Golden Big Leaf Maples

East of Salem, Oregon 22 climbs slowly, but steadily past Detroit with its hydroelectric dams on the Santiam River, the very low water level in the reservoirs resulting from the multi-year drought that exacerbated last year's fires. Crews are still busy on a long stretch of the road felling burned trees and taking them to the lumber mill. The relentless climb continues to the point where 22 merges with US 20 at Santiam Junction. From here, 20 climbs until it reaches its zenith at Santiam Pass and the Pacific Crest Trail at 4800 feet, then descends with a southerly bend through Sisters and into Bend, the seat of Deschutes County.

Detroit Reservoir, Very Low Water Level

Scenic Santiam River

Traveling this route really showed the contrast between east and west side vegetation in a way that we don't normally notice. We live on the east (dry) side of the Coastal Range and go regularly to the wetter west side. When we do so, we see a perceptible shift in the trees and vegetation, but nothing so dramatic as the contrast in crossing the Cascades.

The higher we climbed on the wet west side, the thicker and darker the forest became with the Douglas firs being joined by hemlocks, true firs, and spruce in a dense forest. Once across the mountains to the dry east side, the scenery was very different. There, the forest thinned out to open stands of Ponderosa pines, their orangey bark and long needles easy to recognize even at highway speed. What little color we saw over the mountains was limited to a few quaking aspens going golden, mostly in lower lying and therefore wetter areas of the arid landscape.

East Side Ponderosa Pines

Quaking Aspen, East Side Color

The further southeast we headed towards Bend, the more the scenery changed. From a long way off, we started to see volcanic formations, including the conical mountain called Black Butte. Volcanoes influenced this part of Oregon heavily and the further into Central Oregon that we drove, the more we saw the results of the very poor soils laden with volcanic rock. Quickly the ponderosa pines gave way to upland steppe covered in western juniper and typical sagebrush scrub, a far departure from the lush Willamette Valley that we call home.

Black Butte Behind Suttle Lake

Just at the town of Tumalo outside of Bend, we got our first view of the gorgeous Deschutes River which bisects Bend, flowing from south to north on the eastern flanks of the Cascades towards its ultimate destination, the Columbia River up on the Washington border. The name of the river and subsequently the county surrounding Bend is the anglicization of the French-speaking fur trappers' name Riviѐre des Chutes, literally River of Falls.

As we arrived in Bend, originally Farewell Bend for a fordable bend in the Deschutes, we noted that our start and our destination could not be farther apart in many respects. McMinnville sits in the lush Willamette Valley at 157 feet of elevation and despite being partially in the rain shadow of the Coastal Range, receives about 43 inches of rain per year. Bend, fully in the rain shadow of the massive Cascade Range, sits over 3600 feet above sea level and receives less than 12 inches of rain in an average year. McMinnville has about 35,000 inhabitants, Bend about 110,000.

McMinnville is very close to the highly-populated Portland metro area; Bend is really in the middle of nowhere in what is called the Oregon high desert. This area comprising primarily southeast Oregon is not truly a desert—it gets slightly too much rain for that, but clearly, the area is extremely arid. I felt if I tossed a match on the ground, the whole area would go up in flames, so desiccated did the vegetation appear.

On arriving in Bend, we hadn't planned on doing a pub crawl, but that's exactly what happened. And what a better place for it? Bend is home to some 30-plus brewery operations, a per capita ratio that may be the highest in the country. We ended up having a beer at five different places over about 6-7 hours. 

First stop was Deschutes Brewery, one of the Bend originals, which we selected because we were starving and they are known to have a decent kitchen. Our burgers, beef for me and elk for Ann, were spot-on rare as we asked for them and came out almost immediately, the kitchen clearly ridiculously bored to death, mid-afternoon, mid-week, and off-season.

Taking in the Street at Deschutes Brewery

From Deschutes, we went to the brewery that I most wanted to visit, Crux, situated directly in the center of Bend at the point where all four quadrants of the city meet. Crux is a beautiful brewery and is sited in a large open area adjacent to Route 97. There is lots of space here for dogs, kids, a fire pit, and a small food truck pod. On a clear day, the view of the mountains to the west would be amazing; we were battling a bit too much cloud cover, but still, we could see snow on the flanks of Mt. Bachelor, home to a renowned ski resort. Of all the breweries we visited, Crux was my favorite.

Creative Taster Trays

Snow on Mount Bachelor Peeking out from Clouds

The Letters are C R U and X

One of the motivating factors for visiting Bend is that we just had friends relocate there from McMinnville. Kayli pours at Boneyard, while Alisha and Alyssa work in the kitchen at Worthy. While at Crux, we made plans to drop by Boneyard next to see Kayli, who was at work tending the bar there.

Weekday business at Bend breweries has really slacked off for the fall: Deschutes was empty, Crux was on cruise control, and Boneyard was slow to the point where Kayli got cut as we were finishing our beer. She suggested that we go to her favorite dog-friendly space across the Deschutes River, Goodlife Brewing. When we arrived, we parked in a courtyard in a fairly industrial space that contained no hints why it might be a favorite destination.

After we went inside and ordered beers, Kayli led us through a door at the end of the bar, past a beautiful copper still, out a side door, and around behind the building which opened onto a large green space with fire pits, a food truck, lots of seating, and dozens of people and other dogs. Brown Dog had a great time visiting with other dogs and most especially with other people who are drawn magnetically to her crazy-looking ears. We had a great time here, meeting all manner of really wonderful people who were extremely welcoming to us visitors.

Co-Located with BackDrop Micro-Distillery

Outside Beers Served in Plastic

After dark, we found out that Alisha and Alyssa were getting off their jobs in the Worthy Brewing kitchen, so we headed back across the river to meet them. We arrived there just as the girls got off their shifts. They joined us for a beer out on the patio, home to a bunch of fire pits, where the Brown Dog got a lot more attention. We had a great evening catching up, but as the night was getting on, we reluctantly said our goodbyes and drove to our hotel to check in for the evening.

Kayli, Brown Dog, Alisha, and Alyssa

The next morning, the first order of business was to get some coffee to clear the cobwebs. While we got a lot of great recommendations from people at GoodLife, Ann had already chosen Thump Coffee in Old Bend as the place where she wanted to go. In our driving around, we saw so many great looking coffee shops. We'll have to give them a shot on future trips. We only have about three coffee shops in McMinnville and only one that does decent coffee.

Late Night: Brown Dog is the Last to Rise

After Beer, Coffee is a Must

Coffee on board, the next thing was a big breakfast. We had eaten only a burger apiece the day before at Deschutes and our stomachs were running on empty. One of the people with whom I was chatting at GoodLife told me about a New Mexican food truck that we'd "be sorry if we missed." After we finished chatting with people at Thump, we walked back to the car to cross the river to River West and find Sol Verde food truck. On the way to the car, we wandered by a neat alley in Old Bend containing the entrance to Spider Brewing, a destination for a future trip.

Neat Alley in Old Bend

I've spent some time in New Mexico and I love the food there. It is its own wonderful thing, neither Mexican nor American. Ann and I got breakfast burritos, mine chile verde with green sauce and hers carne adovada Christmas, meaning some each of red and green sauce. We traded them back and forth; both were delicious and spot-on for what I expected, a great late breakfast that would last us until dinner.

Fall Color Across from Sol Verde

As we were driving through town yesterday from brewery to brewery, we kept seeing a big hill just east of Highway 97, the road that separates east Bend from west Bend. At the hotel, I looked it up on the internet and found that it is called Pilot Butte and that there is a series of easy trails to the summit. The Brown Dog has the canine equivalent of ALS, a degenerative nerve disease, that makes long walks impossible for her. On the other hand, short walks are good for her, helping keep up her muscle tone. We decided during breakfast to take her on a walk there. The photos from our visit are in the next post.

The Last Blockbuster in America

After our walk at Pilot Butte, we got gas and started back through Bend headed for McMinnville in a light rain, the gorgeous weather in Bend lasting for but a day. As we headed for US-20, we passed the last remaining Blockbuster in America. That's quite something: who has a VCR any longer?

The trip back was uneventful and the closer we got to the Willamette Valley, the sunnier it got. We made the final climb into Santiam Pass in almost full sunlight that was causing the larches, a deciduous conifer, to glow spectacularly like lemon-yellow Christmas trees. Back home, we would have two spectacular clear and sunny days. I leave you with a final photo, snapped while driving by just south of home, of Zenith Vineyard, glowing yellow against a spectacular sky.

Golden Pinot Noir Vines and Blue Skies

Although we spent less than 24 hours in Bend, we came away with a terrific impression of the place. It's a small city with far more amenities than we have in McMinnville. Moreover, it is super dog friendly; Grace was offered treats everywhere we went. Bend gets the Brown Dog stamp of approval. It's a pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly town too. And it has so many breweries that you could visit one a day for a month and not get to them all. This is coupled with true four seasons, beautiful weather in the high desert, and a population that lives for outdoor recreation. The vibe is just right for us: based on our brief experience, we may have found our tribe.