Living That "Bend" Life

It's been a crazy fall involving more than a few camping trips, chickens (that's for a later post), and our never ending house and yard remodel. We've been making a conscious effort to enjoy the "Bend Life," and get out there to do what we couldn't do when we were working all the time. Sometimes I still feel anxiety about not being "productive enough," or getting things accomplished around the house or yard. And I do still stress about money. But then I remind myself that our house projects will still be there tomorrow, and I can always go in to the office a few extra hours if I want. Life is short and precious, and what's important is getting out there and enjoying it!

With that in mind, we took advantage of Bernice and Josh's visit over Labor Day weekend to go camping at Crater Lake in Morty. We loved it so much, we went back the following weekend with our local friends. It's a gorgeous and well maintained National Park that is only 1.5 hours from our house, and their campground has flushing toilets, showers, a restaurant and a camp store.

Crater Lake was smoky from the wildfires. That's Wizard Island in the middle.

The smoke didn't detract from the gorgeous turquoise water!

Mike and Morty enjoying the view.

Mike purchased another vehicle, a Subaru Sambar, a right-hand drive tiny truck from Japan. It's mostly for work and has been helpful for the house, but it's also a fun little truck that we can take off-roading and camping. To say that Mike loves this truck is an understatement.

All set up with the hammock to watch the blood moon eclipse

good perspective pic of how small the Sambar is! Pic by Ken Bethe

A peek at Broken Top from our campsite

The Sambar all set up for sleeping in the back!

Snowing! pic by Ken Bethe

We were lucky to catch snow already this season - we woke up to big fat flakes! The pic above shows some of the people we went camping with; other local shop owners and van enthusiasts. I'm in the black puffy jacket and winter hat - Mike and I are always prepared when it involves winter camping, and we were toasty despite sleeping with just a tarp over us.

And since it's now fall mushroom season, we got out there for a couple scouting trips. It was gorgeous and even when we find only a few mushrooms, we still get a nice walk.

Hiking around Suttle Lake

Mountains, forests, and lakes - we never get tired of this view.

Some super cool volcanic rocks covered in moss - that's Mike at the top!

I've been watching the weather reports so hopefully I'll target the right place at the right time and we'll find ourselves some chanterelles. 

Stay tuned for our next post when I introduce our new little chicken friends!

A New Tradition

On April 10th, we were reminded that it had been one year since we first set foot in Bend. I was so excited about our new hometown that I took this picture and posted it:

April 10, 2014

We decided to start a new tradition for our new town, and we went back down to Drake Park and took the exact same picture:

April 10, 2015

While it was a bit overcast, and the pond looks a little murky without all that gorgeous blue sky reflected in it, it was still a crisp spring day, and a great way to mark the passage of one sporadically frenzied, life-changing year. And thus, a new tradition is born!

We've definitely been doing a lot more wandering since it's been warm lately. It's just so refreshing and beautiful outside. Everyone seems to have fruit trees, and the streets are popping with color.

our plum tree in full bloom

We took Morty out for a little spin, down some farm roads, with no particular destination in mind. The sun was shining, we passed sheep and cows, horses and goats, a few llamas, and finally ended up at Tumalo Reservoir. You can just barely see the Cascade mountains peeking out in the background. They're still completely snow covered, but this year our snow pack was only about 30% as deep as normal. This means it will melt off too quickly - the trout and salmon will suffer, because the rivers won't be as cold, which equals less oxygen. A hot, dry summer is in the forecast.

Morty at Tumalo Reservoir

Note to self - shooting into the sun sucks.

It's getting harder and harder to stay inside and finish fixing up the house, but like homework, it hangs over our heads every day. Some days, I just unpack a box or two (we're close to done, only about 10 boxes left) and consider that "remodeling." It does help, though! This day, we got two art boxes unpacked and hung up some of our Audrey Kawasaki favorites on the living room wall.

maybe the art will distract from the fact the trim's not done...

And while the kitchen cabinets are still a pain to open since I didn't put the handles on yet, the kitchen is fully functional and I've been cooking up a storm! I made butter poached, local wild caught rockfish with saffron sauce, a deconstructed pastichio (it's sort of a Greek eggplant lasagna), consommé, and completely-from-scratch-pierogis. I also made stuff Mike could eat, like chili. Ha! 

not all cooking goes right! eggplant explosion on the grill.

Life has been quieter these last couple weeks, as we've gotten into a groove of just living here in Bend. It's a nice thing to enjoy, since looking down the summer pipeline, we've got a lot of plans. Time to get motivated to finish our list! While there's tons more to do, if we could only get this stuff done, we could relax for a bit. Let's see if writing it here helps us get it done before the next post (wishful thinking...).

Things to Do:

finish replacing all electric receptacles

finish trim

hook up kitchen and bathroom exhaust fans

reframe all windows and kitchen sliding glass door

hook up hallway pendant light

hook up office light

install bathroom door

paint office

finish unpacking/storing away all boxes

Happy Holidays from Mike and Kristy!

Apparently blogger had some technical difficulties and erased my entire Happy Holidays post! Major bummer.  

Quick synopsis: We went to the local Bend holiday parade, shopped around town, then headed up to Los Angeles via Monterey Bay, with a nice little stop at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. 

Morty, our vanagon, all festive!

The Bend holiday parade with llamas, the unicycle club, marching band, and Smoky the Bear.

awesome Christmas lights in Monterey

Slightly creepy holiday decor, also in Monterey

A very active octopus - he was awesome!

An alien looking Nautilus

Jellies!

More jellies. We love them - so gorgeous.

Moon jellies

Mike and I at Monterey Bay. Happy Holidays!

Our First Morty Adventure Ends

After our shift linkage fell out on our way through SLO (San Luis Obispo), we were super paranoid the rest of the trip, and kept stopping when we heard a new noise. And since this was Morty's first trip, all noises were new noises. It was slow going to Santa Cruz, which was only 2 hours away, and we ended up arriving at 10pm, well after dark. 

Luckily, the campsite was really nice, we got a spot near the restrooms (which were some of the cleanest I have ever been in!), and we spent a decently comfortable night.

Morty at Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, site #32

This trip has totally inspired me to keep notes on campsites that we travel through, as tips like bathroom cleanliness, insect control, cost/fees and privacy are things I find very important, but aren't always rated or noted in reviews. A new tab with campsite recommendations is coming soon!

The next day, we got up super early and headed inland and north, towards the I-5. Our cigarette lighter/charger doesn't quite work yet, but thanks to our buddies John and Jorj, we had solar power to charge our phones. 

Goal Zero solar charger - free energy!

I cannot wait for the day that I have solar power for my entire home. All the destruction of the environment, wars, and pollution that we suffer through, just for gas and oil and coal to power homes - it's idiotic. We could be getting free, clean energy all the time. Mike's already got an auxiliary battery for Morty, so we can put solar panels on his roof and have energy on long camping trips (without using the motor or gas). The future is here! 

And while we're on the topic of the environment, some sad California drought scenes we saw on our way up to Oregon:

brown, brown pastures for miles and miles.

Lake Shasta, which should be up to the level of the trees. For scale, that little white thing
on the right side of the picture is a large boat.

One of the things I love most about traveling is that it gives you perspective. And even though this wasn't a fuzzy, feel good perspective, it did hammer home the fact that water may run through the pipes at home just as it did before, and it may cost the same monetarily, but there is an overall planetary cost that you just don't see every day. Things are changing, and people's lives are affected.

Passing through Shasta National Forest, with Mike at the helm.

After we passed Lake Shasta, it was just another hour to Castle Crags State Park. We were anxious to get home and see our pets, so we didn't hit the hiking trails here, but we are definitely coming back. This place is beautiful, isolated, and perfect for groups to hang out (and these bathrooms are even cleaner than the last!). Lots of bear warnings, though. We decided to eat all our food and store it inside our bodies, rather than stick it in the bear box. There were lots of spiders in there, and somehow, that seemed scarier.

Castle Crags State Park, site #14. Stunning scenery, complete with bears.

Morty likes camping!

The "Castle Crags" from which the park gets its name. Picture from web, no credit listed.

We made it home to Bend the next day, and as much as we love Los Angeles, and hunger for Mexican food, and miss our family and friends...home is where your bed is. And our bed is in Bend. Although, I did just buy some super awesome foam padding for Morty, so our bed may soon be wherever we want it to be.