Bend, OR

As soon as I moved to Bend a few weeks ago, I started hearing rumblings about Bend’s annual Pole, Pedal, Paddle, a six-part race in which participants ski (Alpine and Nordic), bike, run, kayak, and sprint their way from Mount Bachelor to the Les Schwab Amphitheater. Tongue twisting title aside, the Pole, Pedal, Paddle celebrates the essence of Bend: serious outdoor sport that takes full advantage of Bend‘s mountains, rivers, and trails. Plus, the entire population of Bend seems to show up, either to compete or cheer on the thousand or so participants. The sextuple-threat contest attracts everyone from elite athletes, to teams of friends or coworkers, who divide up the legs of the competition and often dress up in costume.

Haul Road Trail runs alongside SW Century Drive, and I picked up the trail at the corner of SW Century Drive and SW Reed Market Road. According to the Bend Parks and Recreation District Map, Haul Road Trail is only a little more than a mile long, but connects to the Deschutes River Trails heading Southwest.

Florence seems to be my own central point of my coastal trips as it is always the 1st coastal town I come to. Maybe because Florence is the central location for Hwy 101 on the Oregon coast. I go to Florence mainly for 3 reasons, to travel to other destinations on 101, to visit the casino once a year and to hit the sand as often as possible as Florence has probably the biggest area of dunes in which to play on as well as long beaches in which to walk or ride horses.

The OSU Hatfield Marine Science Center gives a different meaning to dealing with science. The center has a different approach to help visitors better understand the why’s of the actions that are taken when it comes to marine science. The way the different sciences are explained and shown are easy to understand, even for the younger children. While most children would not understand the complexity of sciences the Marine center has interactive displays with easy to understand interpretive signs

Down on the bay front of Old Newport are the docks which house mainly commercial fishing vessels. These vessels are what bring the fresh seafood to Newport. During the day, wandering among these ships, which seem bigger than life due to its size is one thing but at night it is a totally different world and atmosphere. I found this out quite by accident. While in town I chose to have dinner on the bay front and when I was done I wasn’t ready to move on down the coast to my next destination and so I wandered and somehow or another I wandered among the docks, past these ships that seemed so quiet when just an hour before they were full of life.

Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, contrary to popular consensus, always seems to be one of my favorite lighthouses so far as it is the only lighthouse that has ever had a family living in it. Also the display of intricate artwork and the well kept furnishings actually made me feel as if I was back in [...]

The Natural Outstanding Area is part of the Yaquina Head lighthouse, not to be confused with the Yaquina Bay Lighthouse. The construction of Yaquina Head ultimately shut down Yaquina Bays lighthouse and the owners of the Yaquina Bay then moved back to Cape Cod. Yaquina Head’s lighthouse sits a mile out to see on a rugged headland and is purported to be the tallest lighthouse in Oregon.

Across the way from Cooks Chasm is the Heceta Head lighthouse. The lighthouse some of you may remember, was in the middle of a controversial subject of demolition not to long back. So far Heceta, built in 1894 still stands and still shines as one of the Oregon Coasts brightest and farthest reaching lights out upon the sea.

Unbeknown to many, Cooks Chasm is actually considered a bay. This is despite the fact that it looks totally like the part of the ocean. Resting at the base of the Cummins Creek Wilderness, Cooks is one of those amazing sites. The difference between high and low tides totally changes the look and accessibility of different parts of the chasm. At high tide you get a wonderful display of the surging ocean that pounds against the walls of this chasm as well as forces the ocean into a blow hole to give the show of the spouting horn, likened to a minature geyser.

My favorite all time place on any of the Oregon Coast is the Devil’s Churn. This place turns me into a crazy freak photographer and risk taker. I have been fascinated with the churn since I was 12 or 13 years old. It was my first time viewing this place and it happened to be low tide and I was able to see a small sea faring vessel back inside the cave that rests inside the punch bowl itself and ever since I have had this passionate desire to repel down inside.