Once again using our favorite tool, freecampsites.net, we found another amazing campsite. We knew we wanted to be close to Bend, OR, where we would be staying with family, but also because Bend has a library. There is a ton of free camping within minutes of Bend thanks to the Willamette National Forrest being a 45 minutes drive away. With so many options for camping, it was hard to choose where to go, but Laura saw the potential to camp near a lake so we headed for Sparks Lake. We got lucky and found one spot left for car camping with the lake a short walk away.
Sparks Lake is a beautiful Alpine lake with views of Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top, and South Sister Mountains. We spent two nights here. Did a short hike through crazy lava formations, relaxed on the beach, worked on the blog, and watched the stars come out.
Here are our photos from Sparks Lake
Sweet! Someone left us a Duraflame log. We’ll save that for later.Settling in for the night. Laura enjoys dinner.The next morning we did a short hike by the lake.
Sweet Views. Sister Mountain to the left. Broken Top to the right.
The hike took us through some interesting lava formations.Lava Canyon!It’s amazing how plants can manage to grow on the sides of hardened lava.
Toad!Back at our site, we hiked back into the woods to set up our shower. It was a bit chilly out for a shower but worth it.Then we spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach.Laura worked on photos.
Listening to one of our Favorite Podcasts, Science Vs.
Its hard to see, but this video shows some of the migrating butterflies we saw. There must have been thousands of butterflies flying everywhere. Wish they weren’t so small and quick moving. This was the best video we got from them.
Pretty
Lots of people paddle boarding.PosingPlaine Aire Painter.
This place is so peaceful 🙂Time to watch the sunset. The sun actually set further to the let of the Mountains and with no clouds, there wasn’t much color in the sky.Us trying to be cute.See the big dipper?On our way back to our campsite we came across the biggest toad either of us has ever seen.
Camrin trying to scare it off the road. Obviously not scared of her.
The Next Morning
We made our way down to Bend to use the Library and get to a lower elevation campsite.
It’s getting pretty cold in the higher elevations.After the library, we found a campsite about ten minutes outside of Bend. How sweet is it to have free camping minutes away from a big city? I think we’re really liking this part of Oregon 🙂
Time to Explore Bend and Stay indoors for 2 nights!
We spent the weekend staying in Bend, Oregon. Laura has a distant relative, whom we’ve never met before, offer us a place to stay. This would be our first time couchsurfing with people we have never met before, but Mark and his wife Marge were the sweetest hosts. They took us on a tour of Bend and showed off the cave that is in their backyard. You read that right, they have an underground cave in their backyard.
To start things off with our Tour of Bend, we visited its largest brewery, the Deschutes Brewery.
Tina poses in front of the huge brewery.🙂Free samples!
This is where they make the beer.Hops growing in the parking lot.
Then we wandered around downtown on our own. Bend has a flourishing downtown scene, but still maintains that old main street charm.
Parked downtown next to a sweet van.Downtown BendStopping for lunch at a dive bar, which means we ate nothing healthy.Awww…..Cool bike showing us where coffee is.This was the most hipster coffee shop we have ever been in.This was being advertised inside the coffee shop. Says a lot about the kind of city Bend is. Also, sign us up!The Deschutes River that flows through town.There is a nice park along the river in downtown.
Duck!
After exploring Bend on our own, its time to meet our Hosts. We stayed with Laura’s Dad’s cousin Mark. Mark and his wife were so sweet. Mark actually reached out to Laura through facebook before our travels even began to offer a place to stay if we ever passed through Bend. Besides the hospitality, it was a neat way to learn a little bit more about Laura’s family tree. Saturday night they took us out to dinner and then on Sunday they took us on a couple of tours of the cave and city. Here are the photos from our stay with them.
Mark and Marge have a cave in their backyard. That’s right the entrance to a lava tube cave is in their backyard. When looking at their backyard you can see what looks like an old shed with a door on it. Well, that shed sits above a collapsed entrance into a lava tube. Here is Camrin going down the ladder.So, how cool is this?The cave goes under half the neighborhood. There is another entrance below another house too.Once you scramble over some rocks it opens up into a pretty big chamber.Seriously, this was so cool!Thanks for the tour, Mark!!! This is the door on the side of the shed in his backyard. He was a great tour guide! He even has a guide kit that provided us gloves and extra flashlights.Walking tour of all the stuff we missed the day before. The River is the highlight of the city.Flowers along the river.Ummm… Camrin is weird. Hugging a goose statue :/
From our safe view on the bridge, we could watch people surf the River. These waves in the river are man-made by engineers. It’s a cool way to bring surfing to the mainland.
Well, we know a couple of gals who would love kayaks of their own, but sure, turn them into a sculpture… we don’t mind :/Cool rimrock formations on the right.Last view of the river.This was somewhere in town. We thought it looked cool.Then we went up to a cool overlook before calling it a day.
The Next Morning
The next morning before heading out. Camrin made friends with all of Mark’s pets 🙂
Oh yeah, there is a family of quail that call Mark’s yard home. Cool!See the family resemblance?! Thanks again for letting us stay in your warm home 🙂
Bend was awesome! We definitely have it on our list of favorite towns. We are also so thankful for the hospitality we received. Staying with friends and family while passing through towns has certainly saved us some money, but is also the best way to see a place through the knowledge of a local.
Thanks for reading our blog. Up Next… A short freezing day at Crater Lake National Park!
