Bend, Oregon

June 11, 2021

After one of our longest travel days of the summer (320 miles), we arrived at Crown Villa RV Resort. It is owned by the same company that owns Palm Creek in Casa Grande, Arizona where we’ve spent the last two winters. Palm Creek has 2500 sites in the Sonoran Desert; Crown Villa has 125 sites set in Ponderosa Pines. There are no scheduled activities at Crown Villa but the sites are large with nice features.

Bend was established in 1905 as a logging town. Today its population is about 100,000 and it is known as a gateway for winter and summer sports alike. It’s the seat of Deschutes County. Our first impressions weren’t favorable: The weather was cloudy and cold (60-degree highs) with intermittent rain and traffic was heavier than we like. Still, we never had any trouble filling even gray days.

Pilot Butte

Pilot Butte is an extinct cinder cone that formed about 188,000 years ago. It was a significant landmark for pioneers. The city of Bend surrounds it.

Deschutes Historical Museum

The museum is housed in the former Reid School which was constructed in 1914 and was named for Bend School District’s first principal, Ruth Reid. It is constructed of volcanic tuff. We appreciated the various ways the museum represented life in early Deschutes County.

When we were in Dawson City, British Columbia three years ago we learned about Kate Rockwell, known as Klondike Kate. Kate was a colorful figure during the Alaska gold rush of the late 1890s. In 1912 she saw a film about Bend and moved there. She rolled her own cigarettes, drove a team of horses, and owned an automobile and was known as Aunt Kate.

Scenes while Geocaching

Of course we’ve continued geocaching and we enjoyed some nice vistas when we had a little sun.