Journeys›Photograph

A Brief Trip to Bend Oregon

·Bend, Oregon·#road-trip#travel#summer#oregon#bend
Des Chutes Historical Museum, a stone building, is brightly lit at night under a dark sky with flags and a streetlight.

First night of a brief trip to Bend, and we walked downtown after dark, past the Des Chutes Historical Museum with its flags still up and one bright lamp over the entrance, then out onto the footbridge over the Deschutes. Paddleboarders were still on the water at that hour, working upstream against the last of the sky.

Next day we ate on the sidewalk downtown, dog on a lap the whole meal eyeing the table, a Mexican Coke and a stout among the drinks. Then the required pilgrimage: the last Blockbuster on Earth is here, sharing a sign pole with a Papa Murphy's and a salon, and someone else was already outside taking pictures of it when we pulled in.

After that, Mirror Pond, which is really just the Deschutes backed up between the Bend Hydro dam and the Colorado dam, river mile 166 to 167. The name holds up — the water sat flat enough that the willows and firs on the far bank ran a full second copy of themselves upside down. A single duck crossed and dragged a wake through the middle of it.

Twilight scene of a river with two people on paddleboards, surrounded by illuminated trees and distant houses.A child and a person holding a small dog sit at an outdoor table with several beverages.A child and a person holding a small dog are seated at an outdoor table with various drinks.Three people and a dog sit at an outdoor cafe table with drinks, in front of a building and street with trees.A Blockbuster building with a person near a white car in a parking lot, alongside a sign for Papa Murphy's and a salon.A lake with houses and many trees on the far bank, reflecting in the calm water, framed by green foliage.A clear lake with visible rocks reflects green trees on the far bank under a blue sky, with a swimming duck.A calm blue lake reflects a clear sky, a row of houses, and green trees on the far shore.

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