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Published: July 11th 2010
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We woke up in Bend, Oregon this morning in the Wal-Mart parking lot. Last night was kinda interesting because there was a crazy couple parked beside us and they were just a yelling and screaming at each other right out in the open for the whole world to see and hear. I even opened the door thinking they would be embarassed and stop but that didn't make any difference at all. I swear you just never know what you're gonna run into out on the road these days. I watched and listened for a while just to make sure it didn't get physical and no one got shot but I had to get in the dang bed. It was getting pretty cold so I decided to close the door and lock-up everything and hope for the best. Tim and I had a bowl of Special K for breakfast and then hit the road towards Mt. Bachelor. It's a big mountain with a ski resort right outside of Bend and we wanted to check it out. We drove along the Cascade Lakes Oregon Scenic Byway on the way there and it's a beautiful ride. We noticed that there were several people riding
their bikes along the route as well. These people up here are all about riding bikes and walking their dogs. I guess that's why they all look so skinny and healthy. Maybe I should try that when I get back home !! We eventually made it to the resort at Mt. Bachelor and went in for a quick peek. It's really nice and secluded and would be a great place to take the family for a skiing vacation. There was lots of snow everywhere but it was still early in the morning so Tim and I decided not to get out to play this time. We slowly and very carefully made our way back down the mountain and headed over to Highway 20 towards Ontario, Oregon. My goodness what a drive we had ahead of us today. It was over a 300 miles trip to get to Ontario so I put on some very comfortable clothes, got my pillow and prepared myself for the drive. Tim had read about a wildlife refuge that was on our route so he drove for hours to get us there. We finally made it to Maleur Natural Wildlife Refuge but it was a huge
disappointment. There were no animals anywhere to be found. Well, I take that back, unless you count the one deer we saw drinking water by the lake, the hawk we saw perched on a fence post, the beaver swimming up river, the weird little bird sitting on its eggs on the side of the road, the coyote that ran out in front of us or the lost cow that ran out in front of us on the drive over. We're still not sure why on Earth this place is called a wildlife refuge ?? Oh well, it was on the way so thank goodness it's not one of those things we drove two hours out of the way just to see. We continued on Highway 20 for a few more hours passing through a couple of old small country towns discovering new things along the way. I had no idea Oregon was a huge producer of onions. We must have passed hundreds and hundreds of fields of onions and it was incredible. The whole entire town smelled like onions, you know that smell when you cut the grass in the Summer.....that's what it smelled like. I love that smell but
after an hour of smelling it I was about to get sick. After passing through onion country we came across another interesting place called Diamond Craters Natural Area so we stopped to check it out. Tim needed a bathroom break anyway so it was a good excuse to stop. This place was just a bunch of old volcanic rock that was shaped in the form of diamonds. It was a nice piece of history and interesting so we read all the information, took a few pictures and then we were back on the road. Let me just tell you that 300 miles may not sound like a lot but when you're riding through, over and around mountains the enitre time, it is very exhausting and it takes forever. Many hours and a ton of sightseeing later we finally made it to the Wal-Mart in Ontario, Oregon. By this time, Tim's shoulder was hurting and he needed to rest so I went into Wal-Mart to pick up a few things and grab us a Subway sandwich for dinner. After dinner, Tim popped open a cold beer and sat back to relax as I gave him a fabulous pedicure. I rubbed his
legs and his tired feet until he fell asleep. We did get to see a lot of beautiful Oregon scenery including mountains, waterfalls and rivers today but I was glad to be settled in tonight. These long driving days can really get me restless sometimes but I know it's part of the trip. You can't get to all the fun stuff without first driving there. Today we were on a mission to make it to Ontario but that is only the halfway point for our final destination of Hells Canyon, Idaho. We'll be up and at it early tomorrow for another long day of driving but it will all be worth it in the end. Take care and God Bless !! :-)
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