Bend, OR

Comfy, funky and a bit like hanging out in your bohemian aunt’s uptown loft, Townshend’s is a spot of hip and cozy sophistication in downtown Bend. The décor, a cushy mix of candy-colored couches, dark wood and brick, is as inviting as the spicy aroma that clouds your head as you walk into the Bond Street shop. The loose-leaf menu is a 12-page tea volume, with 84 varieties of green, white, black, oolong, chai, rooibos, máte, and herbal teas. All loose-leaf teas are available hot or iced in 3 different sizes, including a pot to share among friends. Townshend’s also serves tea lattes and bubble tea, a sweet creamy tea with tapioca balls that you suck up through a special wide straw.

I have always been fascinated by the steep canyons & largess in which Columbia River resides; the barge boats that pass through occasionally and the wheel house boat , where as a kid I was intrigued by the fact that the large wheel on the back of a boat propelled this boat forward; the myriad waterfalls and extravagant views that I see in the 14 miles that I normally travel.Columbia River itself is a 1200 mile river spanning 7 states (not including Canada) from Canada to Oregon and is the largest in the Pacific Northwest and flows into our Pacific Ocean. The majority of the Oregon part of the river is nestled within a deep canyon providing extravagant & exceptional panoramic views.

Thump Coffee is one of those tragically hip coffee shops where I suddenly feel the need to don thick-rimmed glasses and have intellectual discussions about mung beans or the Icelandic Post-Rock movement. Everything, from the brick walls, the tattooed, bandana-wearing baristas, the strictly fair trade coffee, and the semi-permanent art installation on which customers can decorate a small wooden plank with their wishes for the world, whispers hipster haven. Happily, even a non or pseudo-hipster like myself can enjoy the artistically alluring atmosphere, quality coffee and free wi-fi connection.

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

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.

Upon showing up at the Asian Festival at the Lane County Fairgrounds there was hardly any parking and after hunting we finally found a spot way out in left field. I kept remarking about the amount of cars and that I was surprised at the amount of people who would choose to go to the festival. Well to my surprise the festival was great. We had a blast. There were a million streaming people and the whole place was redolent w/ not only the different smells of Asian food fare but the different arts were amazing.

Local Ocean Seafood sits across the street from the commercial fishing docks, down on Newport’s old bay front. Doesn’t the name just sound so appropriate considering it’s location. I wonder what it is that you think Local Ocean is? Honestly Local Ocean is a restaurant/café. I had never been to Local Ocean but it came on a recommendation and so instead of going to my normal haunt of Mo’s and eating chowder, I came here.

Waldport seems to be a town frozen in time as much hasn’t seemed to change since I went to school there over 20 years ago. This is still a tiny little town that sits between Florence and Newport. Waldport sits at the mouth of the Alsea River, once famous for it’s steelhead and salmon fishing and still famous for its’ beauty. This little area seems to keep time well with the earlier periods of the late 1900’s and on the surface, technology doesn’t seem to have caught up with the rest of the world.

I love this place! The mystifying moments of the deep where one can walk through, under and over all those creatures we never see, those that swim in the depths of our vast Pacific Ocean. The tunnels of glass allowed me to see, in a 360 degree view, the different species of fish, sharks, starfish, eels, stingrays and a bunch of other species of which I have no clue as to what they are. What I do know is that being inside this glass tunnel was mesmerizing. You can reach out and touch all these creatures or so it seems.