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Today was a fairly easy drive of a few hours to Beverly Beach State Park. We were thrilled upon arrival to find a beautiful park with huge old-growth trees throughout, a short walk to a huge beautiful beach, and a dog-friendly nature trail along a river. Unfortunately, the location has no cell service and the trees prevent our satellite TV from having any reception. The wonderful setting makes up for the lack of connectivity. After setup we drove into Newport to have dinner. We chose Embarcadero based on Tripadvisor. There are few enticing selections on Tripadvisor but this sounded OK. It turns out Embarcadero is a hotel restaurant with a view of the marina. It turns out the main restaurant was closed and only the bar was open. The bar had a very limited menu and we chose Fish and Chips. The food was average and the view was ok. The bar was HOT. Don’t know why but we were not comfortable. Overall tolerable but not a great experience. After Embarcadero we explored a little of the town, expecially around the shoreline. Newport seems like a really quaint beach town. After limited exploration we headed back to the coach and enjoyed a nice beach walk with Maverick.

Today we hit the Redmond Lava Tube caves. This was the consolation prize since most of the Newberry National Volcanic Monument and its caves are still closed for the winter. The caves aren’t spectacular but they are interesting, close by, and very accessible. Again Maverick and us had the place to ourselves. The two biggest caves are easy to traverse and stand up in. The caves are a city park right by the Redmond airport. Next we went grocery shopping at Walmart and then hit the Redmond Wild Ride Brewery. After getting there we discovered the food was from the two food trucks on the parking lot and beer/drinks from the brewery proper. It is another beautiful day and we sat outside with Maverick and had a very good and ENORMOUS burger from the food truck. The place is very popular with 20-30 something demographic.

Donna discovered that Redmond was having a car show today. We got there about 10am and wow! What a big and well attended car show. It was probably packed in about 10 city blocks of downtown Redmond. It had just about anything you might imagine a car show to have. It was totally free and we found a good parking spot easily. The weather was great and we had a really good time.
After walking our legs off we hit the Three Creeks Brewery in Sisters. This is really close to where we are staying so we have been eyeing it all week. We had good food and Maverick sat with us outside in the great weather. A young man next to us took a great pic of Maverick and offered to send it to us. We were surprised to find out he is visiting from Dallas. Small world.

This morning we drove out to the Bachelor Mountain Ski area in the Deschutes National Forest. It appeared to be a very nice ski area that is surprisingly RV friendly. Had I known in advance I might have planned some time to ski a day or two. My guess is the snow was really icy since the temperature there today was in the mid-40’s.

After our forest drive we ended up back at the 10-Barrel Brewery. We sat outside in beautiful weather. The food was good, beer pretty good, but we wished for aspects of the other breweries we have visited. We wish we could combine them all.

We got back to the coach pretty early and Donna did laundry while I cleaned the front of the coach and the wheels. We also had plenty of time to relax outside in the nice weather.

Today we chose Cline Falls as our destination. We really like waterfalls if you haven’t guessed. We went to the Cline Falls State Park only to discover the falls were actually ½ mile downstream. We drove back out of the park to the Highway and parked to shorten our hike somewhat. The hike itself was very easy, about 1/3 miles and perfectly flat except for getting down the highway embankment. The falls were quite pretty and Maverick enjoyed the off-leash run. The nice thing here was the close proximity to Sisters and Redmond. After the falls we went to Crux Fermentation Project (brewery) for lunch. I almost backed out based on the outside but I’m glad I didn’t. The lunch was excellent (especially the pretzel and cheese appetizer) and the beer was the best yet. As before I got the 6 sample taste flight.
After lunch we wen to the Old Mill District and walked Maverick to the dog park. It was really windy making it pretty chilly but was still lots of fun. Donna and I then went to see the movie Ready Player One in the nearby cinema.

We headed East out of Sisters on Hwy 20/126 to the Williamette National Forest. After a 30 minute drive we arrived at the Sahalie and Koosah Falls. Wow, really spectacular falls! There are two big falls (named) but the McKenzie River continuously steps down until it reaches the Carmen Reservoir. The flow and immense power reminded us of the upper falls at Yellowstone. Other that two other small groups we had the falls and trails to ourselves. The hike from parking to the lower Koosah falls is about ½ mile with a beautiful, easy trail that follows the roaring river within a few feet nearly the whole way. Again Maverick got a nice off-leash hike and even more snow play. We did have light rain on and off but were prepared and it really didn’t impact our enjoyment. Maverick was soaked and didn’t seem to mind at all. We really enjoyed these falls.

Today we set out for Tumalo Falls in the Deschutes National Forest. The falls can be viewed from the parking lot but the best views are up a ¼ mile trail and provide up close views of this beautiful falls. The trail was Maverick friendly and he enjoyed a romp in the snow. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.

In keeping with the Bend Brewery Tour, today we hit the Deschutes Brewery in downtown Bend. Again I had a tasting flight of six beers. Better today. The food was ok and we really enjoyed the pretzel and cheese appetizer. A nice cozy restaurant with fireside dining.

Oh, by the way.  Studying the weather it looks like our original plan to leave Thursday looks ill advised.  We have to travel through mountain passes to get to about any other destination.  In particular our plan is to go East to the Oregon coast.  All of the passes East, North, or South are showing snow and tire chains required.   It wouldn’t be a problem in the Jeep but I don’t feel like taking any chances in the big rig.  Today I added to our stay here at the Bend Sisters RV Resort and we now plan on leaving Monday.

This morning we went to Lowes to get pop rivet tool and rivets to fix loose screen door screen. It has pop-riveted clips that had broken causing the screen to rattle badly while driving. After that we drove through downtown Bend and then to the Old Mill District. We then went to Bend River Brewery. I had a 6-taste flight of beer that was fair and Donna and I shared a great burger. The restaurant has a nice view of the Bend river. It snowed like crazy while we were in there.  As a matter of fact, we had intermittent snow showers the rest of the day. After lunch we drove by Flyte Camp. Flyte Camp is the company featured in the TV show Flippin RV’s.

We then found a RV supply place that had a no-kink hose and a Tow Defender I was planning on buying online. A Tow Defender is a rock guard that goes between the coach and the car. We then went to the High Desert Museum. The museum was nicely done and focused on the early settlers and Indian history. They had a few live animal exhibits including Porcupine, Bob-Cat, River Otters, Birds of Prey, and reptiles. A good part of the museum was outside and a pretty forest setting.

Today was forecast to rain all day and I decided I was stay around the coach and play on the computer and Donna went to Bend for retail therapy. In the afternoon we seemed to have a water delivery problem. The water pressure had been low and I discovered we had used all of our 60 gallons of internal fresh water since arriving. I checked out outside and came to the conclusion that our external water filter was clogged.

At dinner time we went the short drive into Sisters to go to Sisters Saloon. It was a nice place and we shared a very good steak. After dinner we drove about 14 miles to Redmond to go to Walmart and buy a new water filter. When we returned I assembled the filter and hooked it up. During the process I discovered the real problem was a kinked hose. After messing with the hose for a while I came to the conclusion it was trash and I needed a new hose.

This morning we got up and got the coach ready for the trip to Bend OR. The weather was clear and warmer and we debated about going back and trying to see Crater Lake again. I checked with the RV Park manager Nancy and she said late checkout would be no problem.  Nancy checked the Lake webcam for me and the view on the webcam showed clear weather and views so off we went. The weather up at the rim was still cold but this time we were treated to beautiful views of the lake. Wow, this is really a cool place. The actual rim of the crater is only 20-50 yards from the parking lot so just about everyone can get to a good viewing location. We were so happy we made the 2 hour round trip to see it. If you ever get this way I encourage you to go.  Maverick gave the off-leash snow romp an excellent 4-paws rating.

The trip to Bend was a fairly short 2 ½ hour drive, pretty level and straight. We left about 1pm after a quick lunch and arrived at the Bend/Sisters RV Resort about 3:30. Another really nice park. Lots of trees, lots of space between sites and nicely paved roads and sites. We parked nose in at a site looking at the pond 50 yards away. Very nice. After setup we ran into Sisters and had Mexican Food at Los Agave. We got fajitas and they tasted ok but didn’t have much chicken and what was there was very small pieces.