Beautiful Bend Oregon

Our Travel Columnist returns to a favorite spot and sees it with new eyes.

My recent trip to beautiful Bend, Oregon, wasn’t really meant to be a vacation. I was scheduled to teach at the inaugural Central Oregon Writers Conference and the venue for the event was Bend’s Riverhouse Lodge. Having visited Bend before, I knew we were in for a treat, but I hadn’t counted on the drive there being one of them.

Leaving from Poulsbo, Washington, we loaded up our rental car early and were on the rainy road by 8:30am. We drove down a scenic but slow and winding stretch of highway 101 to Olympia and then headed for Interstate 5. It was nice to get onto the freeway and be able to drive the speed limit after the constant stop-and-go of the previous 90 minutes.

The trip to Portland and east toward Mt Hood went smoothly, but was rather dull, with virtually every bit of scenery veiled by gray clouds and intermittent rain showers. But once we passed Government Camp, and the completely shrouded mountain and began to head east and downhill toward Warm Springs Reservation, the sun finally came out. By the time we were passing through the reservation, the sky was blue with white puffy clouds and we were able to admire the stark and stunning topography of Oregon’s high desert.

At the next highway junction we headed south and soon were driving through Redmond, which is always fun for us Redmonds, for the obvious reason. The flag-festooned streets of the charming little city—they love flags, there, and were most likely still decorated from Columbus Day—sparkled after the recent rains. And the next stop south was our destination, situated on the Deschutes River, at a—you guessed it—big bend on the riverbank. There are so many parks in Bend, I won’t even try to list them all, but if you like hiking or mountain-biking, it is the place.

We pulled into the Riverhouse Lodge and soon were in our room, putting things away and preparing for the first event of the three-day conference. Our room had a tiny balcony that looked over the racing river. The ground floor rooms all had fire pits on their patios, and one of those rooms was the gathering place for the first night introductions.

The two hotel buildings straddle the Deschutes River, with the main building housing the Currents Restaurant and bar, and our building a short walk over a covered bridge across the narrow, rocky river. The patio and fire pit was a central attraction of the room where we instructors, the conference organizers, and attendees spent the next couple of hours, noshing, drinking, and getting to know each other.

The next day I was up early to attend the morning speaker’s talk, and took a stroll around the gorgeous grounds. Every view of the rushing river seemed an even better shot; I took dozens of photos on that first walk before heading to the conference center, which was also in a lovely woodsy riverside setting. There were gorgeous views out the many windows, as one would expect, but also plenty of cool interior touches like this cozy fireside sitting area.

That day I taught a class about how to pitch your book and write a query letter, held a read & critique session where a handful of people read the first few pages of their work aloud to get instantaneous feedback, then I spoke privately with a few authors who had sent in material beforehand.

During the one-hour lunch break, Russel and I headed out to find a healthy meal that wasn’t too far away, the hotel restaurant being already full by that time. The Natural Grocers store across the street hit the spot on both counts, and we were able to get fruit and yogurt for the next day’s breakfast as well as a couple of salads and some rye crackers. And, since we were already stocked up with healthful food, we stopped next door at Delish Donuts and picked up a couple of sweet treats—dessert before lunch, why not? Clearly, I needed energy for teaching my afternoon classes—one about point of view and one on how to put expository information into writing without readers noticing.

On Sunday, after the final speaker and the awards presentations, we headed to the hotel’s Currents restaurant with two presenter friends and their partners. The restaurant’s views are stunning, but we’d seen enough of the outdoors by then, so, after ordering an IPA from Deschutes Brewery at the bar, we found a fireside lounging area to chat and sip. Not much later, the hostess found a nearby dining table for the six of us.

Earlier in the day, I had noted the presence of a big barrel-style meat smoker in front with a sign for the day’s special—smoked brisket. The meat was savory and tender; it turns out they have a special smoked meat almost every day. The fresh salmon dinner Russel had was gorgeous and just as yummy as it looked. Our friends had dined there earlier, and said that brunch was delicious, too. Apparently, they also have live music available, some Sundays.

The next morning we hit the road early again, as we had plans to visit old friends in Vancouver, Washington, just over the border from Portland, the city that we have been hearing lately is “war-torn hellhole.” Needless to say, Portland was calm and beautiful, its millions of trees and parks all sparkling after a brief rain shower, the only thing even slightly hellish being the lunch-hour traffic.

Lunch in Vancouver was delightful, not only the great conversation but the fresh and perfectly prepared meal of nearly overflowing bento boxes at a local neighborhood Japanese restaurant called Mio Sushi. Full and happy, we headed north toward Poulsbo and our “home sweet boat.”

You can buy Jenny’s excellent memoir, “Honeymoon at Sea”, right here.

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