After our week in Halfway, OR was cut short by a day due to Shae’s emergency surgery, we stayed for a few nights in Ontario, OR before moving on to Bend.
We stayed there for 2.5 weeks to give Shae an opportunity to rest up after her surgery without needing to move again, while also giving us a chance to explore the area.
Here’s a roundup of everything we did there, from where we stayed to what we did to where we ate and drank.
Where We Stayed
We spent all 2.5 weeks at the Holiday Inn Express Bend. It was a fantastic stay as the room was nice and clean and their staff members were all incredibly friendly and helpful. We booked the stay using IHG Rewards points as that provided excellent value. Here’s a full review of our stay.
What We Did
The Last Blockbuster On The Planet
Blockbuster Video once had more than 9,000 stores worldwide, but there’s now only one left on the planet and it can be found in Bend. It’s been the subject of a documentary called The Last Blockbuster and is still a fully-functioning Blockbuster store, using their original computer system and everything!
Shae, Truffles and I paid it a visit, so read more about it here.
Tumalo Falls
While Shae was resting up, I took Truffles to Tumalo Falls to check out the waterfalls and go for a hike.
Other than one or two steep sections, it was a fairly easy hike that followed alongside Tumalo Creek from above and provided some lovely views along the way.
Smith Rock State Park
Another hike Truffles and I went on was at Smith Rock State Park. It’s a truly stunning setting which was formed by volcanic eruptions but doesn’t feature black volcanic rock. It’s a popular location for rock climbers and has a river running through its canyon. Here’s more about the hike we went on.
Newberry National Volcanic Monument
Smith Rock State Park isn’t the only place near Bend which has a dormant volcano. Just south of our hotel was Newberry National Volcanic Monument which covers 54,000 acres.
We didn’t have the opportunity to explore much of that area, but one afternoon we headed to its Lava Lands location to learn more about its history and check out the volcanic terrain. Here’s more about what we saw.
Paulina Creek Falls
After checking out Lava Lands, we went to another part of Newberry National Volcanic Monument – Paulina Creek Falls. The falls were at a higher elevation and had its first snow of the season the night before we visited, so a beautiful wintry setting greeted us.
High Desert Museum
Despite the fact that I always pictured Oregon as being rainy, a large portion of the state is part of the High Desert. Bend is home to the High Desert Museum which shares more about its climate, landscape, flora and fauna, life for indigenous people and early settlers and more. Here’s a post Shae wrote about the museum.
Deschutes River Trail
Bend has the Deschutes River running through it and it has a great river walk alongside it which is popular with walkers and joggers.
Where We Ate & Drank
Deschutes Brewery Bend Tasting Room
Deschutes Brewery is a brand you can find in grocery stores nationwide, so it was fun getting to visit their home base. I started off with their Whiskey Butte Porter…
…and followed up with their Nitro Obsidian Stout.
The brewery has a pet-friendly seating area in the lobby, so Truffles got to join us for a drink.
Silver Moon Brewing
For Halloween, Silver Moon Brewing had a fancy dress competition for dogs and so we took Truffles along dressed up in her Harry Potter gear (she’s a Hufflepup). It was a chilly day and there wasn’t any space around the fire pits, so we only stayed for one drink.
Sweet Tooth Candy Shoppe
We were in Bend on National Candy Day (November 4), so after taking Truffles to the dog park we stopped by Sweet Tooth Candy Shoppe to get some Pick ‘n Mix.
What We Missed
We wanted to visit Crater Lake National Park while in Bend, but the roads closed a little earlier for the season than expected due to the weather and so we missed out. It’s somewhere we still want to visit, so we’re hoping to return to Oregon for a quick visit in spring 2022 so we can check that out as well as the Alvord Desert in the southeast corner of the state.
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