In Search of Sunshine – Advinspiration

I’m sure it’s obvious by now that Bend, Oregon is one of my favorite places to visit and it makes me sad when my friends haven’t even been there. Last weekend we set out to fix that problem and shove in as much mountain biking and coffee as possible.

All 4 bikes snugly nestled in the back of the truck

Our first real stop was the Peter Skene Ogden scenic viewpoint. I really dig the old riveted bridges, but this time there were groundhogs everywhere. I, of course, had a field day watching them run around and everyone else had a field day watching *me* run around watching the little critters.

the "newer" bridges — the “newer” bridges

Just a few minutes down the road is the small town of Redmond. Smith Rock state park is just outside Redmond and is one of my new favorite places to hike. We hiked the Misery Ridge trail because it’s just gorgeous, but next time we go down we may try the mountain biking trails out there.

Top of Misery Ridge. Really it's not even that hard of a climb... — Top of Misery Ridge. Really it’s not even that hard of a climb…

Rainclouds brewing. We managed to miss most of the rain, but still got wet.

Kinda pretty when it's rainy... — Kinda pretty when it’s rainy…

River runs through the middle of the park

There were some epic houses along the river.

Trail runs along the river for a while on the way back down

This is the main part of misery ridge. At least switchbacks are easier than walking straight up it!

Rock caves everywhere. All 4 of us fit in one.

Colorful shrub and water. This much color was a stark contrast to all the browns and reds of the rest of the landscape.l — Colorful shrub and water. This much color was a stark contrast to all the browns and reds of the rest of the landscape.

Smith Rock is also a huge destination for rock climbers due mostly to a big rock spire called “monkey face.” I don’t think I want to start rock climbing anytime soon!

There's a line across that! NOPE! — There’s a line across that! NOPE!

He caught me creepin... — He caught me creepin…

Another climber. They were everywhere on the lower sections.

So at this point I feel I should apologize to anyone reading my blog who really cares that I was doing that photo challenge thing that sort of just fell to the wayside a while ago… Remember that? yeahhhhh… Here’s photo challenge #8- Black and white. Because I don’t have one for #7. I promise I’ll make it up to you later.

So there’s your stupid photo challenge! 😉 I really enjoy black and white photography. Have been experimenting with high key photos lately since I find I always make them dark and moody. One of those “practice” things I suppose.

Next on our stop was the Boyd lava tube cave. It’s always surprising how dark and how quiet it is in there. We definitely need to keep more flash lights in the truck.

Fairly ghetto rigged entrance. "What's the worst that could...... ohyeah...." — Fairly ghetto rigged entrance. “What’s the worst that could…… ohyeah….”

Actually rather pretty... — Actually rather pretty…

The cell phone cameras all worked the best... — The cell phone cameras all worked the best…

Jason also never misses an opportunity to take the truck offroading so we bounced up a butte/hill/whatever down a dirt road from the Boyd cave. Pretty good view from up there.

So many trails out here! Wish I had my little motorcycle back... — So many trails out here! Wish I had my little motorcycle back…

We were so busy biking all the epic trails in Bend that I didn’t really get a whole lot of photos of the city itself. The old mill district is pretty neat and has a ton of really really good food. Speaking of food, it’s worth the drive up to Redmond to go to the One Street Down Cafe. Epic breakfast!

I didn't get the sushi before it was gone. Better luck next time. — I didn’t get a pic of the sushi before it was gone. Better luck next time.

They kept the old stacks as part of the areas heritage. There are little pieces like this all over the place. Pretty neat how they integrated it all.

One of my favorite things about Bend is how active all the people who live here are. There are biking/hiking/dog/horse/ trails in town, epic snowboarding, hiking all over the place, world class paddling… etc. It’s ridiculous. One of the cool parts is Pilot Butte, located right on the outskirts of town. It’s a popular place to run or hike and has a great view of the town at the top.

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