Travel Tips & Adventures

After the strenuous drive on RT 242  (see our blog on September 17) to get to Bend, we were prepared to really relax! 

Our hotel in Bend, the Shilo Inn, offered rooms with fully-equipped kitchens and  a view of the river.  A separate building contained an enclosed pool with spa and sauna.  Furnishings were a little worn, but the amenities were good with freebies offered for their full breakfast buffet, so not a bad deal all together.

We headed to downtown to look around and saw the following fellow sitting on a bench.  From a distance, he looked quite real!

Bench sitter in downtown Bend

We have already talked about the Farmer’s Market (see  our blog on October 9) we visited and had a chance to stroll the path along the Deschutes River.  We did not tell you about the very unusual restaurant that has a tree going through the roof in the middle of of a room.

Truly – a tree that goes through the roof!  When the restaurant owners decided to add another room, they didn’t want to destroy the 300-year-old tree.  Oregon people are like that.  So, they built the tree into the room.

Pine Tavern Restaurant

Trees in Pine Tavern Restaurant

Through the roof!

 Besides the unusual attraction of a tree going through the roof, the Pine Tavern has a spacious patio overlooking the Deschutes River.  We opted to sit there with an idyllic view. The patio has round tables with mis-matched linen napkins.  

Our waitress Nikki, was most accommodating.  She offered to make iced decaf tea for me, since they didn’t have anything decaf.  Although I remember liking the food, I don’t remember what we ate because we suddenly had a hovering bee that just wouldn’t go away.  

When we brought the bee to Nikki’s attention, she commented that there was no extra charge for the bee.  The way she said it, it was funny and we laughed and relaxed.

The view was mesmerizing and,when it was time to leave, we did so reluctantly.  As we left we saw two staffers sitting at empty booths in the restaurant folding napkins!  All of those napkins do need to be folded!

We liked the Pine Tavern Restaurant.  Good food with an old-fashioned, gracious atmosphere.

http://www.pinetavern.com/

With the fourth largest number of breweries in the U.S., Oregon is a good place to find some suds on a Friday night, or any night, for that matter.

On a recent trip to Oregon, I decided to try out some of the bigger names in the micro-brewery and brewpub business, as well as one of the smaller and newest entries into the business.

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By Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw, Photos by George Bradshaw

Eighty-four miles north of Fairbanks, Alaska begins the primitive road known as The Dalton Highway, or the Haul Road. It was first called the Haul Road because almost everything supporting the oilfields of the North Slope of Alaska was transported across this road on tractor-trailer rigs. It ends 414 miles later in Deadhorse, the industrial camp at Prudhoe Bay. A primitive road from its beginning to its end, there are very few stretches of pavement. It is the farthest north road and involves risks and challenges, but at the same time gives the opportunity to traverse a remote, unpopulated part of Alaska to the very top of the continent.

Highway through Atigun Pass

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By Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw, Photos by George Bradshaw

The tundra of Alaska is a stark but beautiful landscape. As the coldest of all the biomes, tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and a short growing season. Tundra also contains permafrost, which means that the soil is permanently frozen and can be from 10-35 inches deep, making it impossible for trees to grow.

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On first glance, Eugene, Oregon would not appear to be a vacation destination. It is home to the University of Oregon and is located in the Willamette Valley.

Downtown Eugene from Skinner Butte

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Besides our visit to the Sea Lion Caves (see the September 15 blog), we stopped for lunch and a little sightseeing in Florence, Oregon. On the coast just a few miles south of the Sea Lion Caves, Florence just happened to have a Mo’s Restaurant, a regional chain with a waterside restaurant. We were hungry and headed to Mo’s.

Eating at Mo’s

There are branches of the chain in many towns and the advertising, including giant billboards, really pays off. The restaurant was extremely busy. We waited briefly and were seated way near the back. The wait staff moves briskly and so do the prep people, who were industriously sprinkling toppings on some entrees when I passed by.

"Greeter" at Mo's

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We love farmer’s markets! The joy of finding produce so fresh that it just came out of the ground that very day is a major rush for people with a black thumb (those who cannot grow things well) like me.

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Guest Author Peggy Bradshaw; Photos by George Bradshaw

Lakota Chief Henry Standing Bear wrote a letter to sculptor Korszak Ziolkowski asking if he would carve a monument to the great Oglala warrior Crazy Horse. Ziolkowski worked on the carving of Mt. Rushmore and Standing Bear wanted the white man to know that the Indians had great heroes also.

The carving was started in 1948 on Thunderhead Mountain, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, a mountain considered sacred by many tribes. Many tribes oppose the defilement of the sacred mountain.

How the Crazy Horse Monument is supposed to look when completed

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How many food products have you actually seen produced? Most people will say – none!

You eat and you drink every day, but with the exception of the FREE BEER tour at one of those national breweries, most people would rather eat and drink than know how it was made!!!! Read the rest of this entry »

If you are interested in Totem Poles (and who isn’t?), you have two distinct possibilities to see them firsthand in Vancouver. B.C.  One option is “free” near the entrance of Stanley Park (see our September 28 blog).  The constant rumbling of tour buses stopping in the parking area is an interesting juxtaposition of ancient cultural and modern forms of pollution … 

I’m sure the original First Nations population of British Columbia would have been appalled, or at least confused by the throngs of tourists snapping photos and taking videos of the assembled collection of Totem Poles in the park.   

The other option for seeing Totem Poles and other collections of First Nations art is not free, but without the tour buses. 

Approximately 20 minutes from downtown Vancouver, and an interesting drive through the suburban area of south Vancouver, is a quieter and reserved observation of the creations of the First Nations peoples.

(First Nations – - – refers to the over 600 aboriginal bands of peoples of Canada.)

A large collection of over 35,000 artifacts are housed at the Museum of Anthropology (MOA) located on the campus of the University of British Columbia.  Today’s building is far more complex than its humble beginnings in 1949 in the basement of the University Library. 

The current museum was designed and built in 1976, holding collections of not only First Nations artifacts, but that of the South Pacific, Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas. 

Most well-known for its Northwest Coast collections, the MOA exhibits large sculptures in the Great Hall. 

These large wooden sculptures of red cedar are representative of several First Nations communities such as the Haida, Kwakwaka’wakw, and Oweekeno.  

Even a thousand years ago, guys were telling fish stories…

"Really guys! The fish was THAT big!"

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