LaPine to Portland. July 10

Leaving LaPine we continued north on route 97 to Newberry Volcanic National Monument in the Deschutes National Forest.  We spent a few hours there learning about Shield Volcanos, walking through an obsidian lava flow and taking a ride to the top of a cinder cone with a commanding 360 degree view of the area.  There is a fire watch tour on top.  At the lava flow we waited 10 minutes for a guided tour by a park ranger.  Uh.... to put it very nicely she was a bit inexperienced.  Out of breath after climbing for 5 minutes she became very flustered and pretty much forgot everything she was supposed to say if indeed she ever knew anything.  But she was young and a volunteer and so you get what you pay for.  It was a beautiful view and we learned a lot by reading all of the signs along the way.  Obsidian field and view from the cinder cone:

From the monument it was a quick 12 mile drive to Bend just in time for lunch at the 10 Barrel Brewing Company.  I had sampled beers from this brewery through my Beer of the Month Club and its food had great reviews on Trip Advisor.

We had lunch there and headed downtown.  By the way, you won't be seeing any pictures of Cindy on my posts.  You may have noticed a few "censored" stamps in one of my previous posts.  I had put up some pictures of Cindy and Nick which Cindy wasn't pleased with so I took them down.  Fair enough.  But rather than ask her permission each time, it will be easier to just omit them as a rule.  You'll be treated instead to my mug and lots of pictures of scenery.

It was sunny and warm in downtown Bend and the River Park was crowded with swimmers, bathers and floaters.  Everyone was enjoying the weather, probably the hottest day in Bend that year.  It was supposed to hit 93.  The heat is following us everywhere.  Cindy and I walked to the park and sat and enjoyed a shady tree.  I wanted to take a short nap (see picture above as to why) and of course after 5 minutes of sitting there she said she was going to walk around town some more.  Here is the only picture I could find of the river (and I don't know the name of the river).  The activity was a few minutes away from this tranquil spot.

Before heading to Portland we figured we should pay homage to the largest and best known brewery in Bend, Deschutes.  We got there at 4:30 and the last tour went out at 4 so we missed that.  However, they were offering free tastings until 5.  Knowing I head to drive to Portland I tried one and then we headed out.

We arrived in Portland at about 8:30pm, found our house for the evening and met our hostess.  We weren't ready to call it a day yet so we asked for the nearest, what else, brewery.  It was 2 miles away and was the very large Widmer.  They had a great menu, we sipped a beer and had some small snacks.  Then we headed back to our accommodations.