Out In The Wild West Part 2

Hey Everybody,

As I type to you, I am sitting at my aunts computer in Oregon. I am in a city named Bend which is the largest city in central Oregon. The population of the largest central Oregonian city is a little over 80,000. As we drove here from Portland, we passed by cities that had populations under 500.

The first day that we arrived, we did a small tour of Portland. The two things that I know about Portland are Voodoo donuts and microbreweries. Voodoo Donuts is featured on the travel channel as a place that has a unique twist on donuts. Unfortunately, when we got there, the line was about an hour long, so we left. My parents were a little tired to go to Microbreweries, so we ended up going out to a nice dinner in Portland and called it a night early.

The next day we left for Bend. Bend is about a 3 hour drive from Portland. On the side, my uncle has a license that lets him marry people. Once we got to Bend, he had to leave to marry his friends sister.

The next day we went to a town called Sisters. This is a stereotypical small western town with a boat load of shopping. The reason the town is named Sisters is that there are three mountains that are close together on the range that are named the "Three Sisters". It is absolutely gorgeous, and even during the end of the summer there is snow at the peaks of the mountain.

Since we have been in Oregon, my Aunt and Uncle kept raving about this restaurant called the Cowboy Dinner tree. It is literally in the middle of nowhere. We had to drive a combined 3 hours to get there and back. The great thing about Oregon is that there are a million two lane highways that are the only connectors between parts of the state. In other words, the Garden State Parkway is a two lane highway out here. To get to the restaurant we had to go through two national forests, a desert and some plains.

The restaurant looks like a shack on the side of the road. While there, there was at least a turnover of about 50 people. This shocked me. The closest city of any big population was around a 3 hour round trip. The food was spectacular, and one needs to make a reservation in order to eat there. They serve unbelievable tri-tip steak and a really great bean chili thing. If you ever find yourself in central Oregon, go to this place!

Yesterday, we went to this naturally formed lake named Crater Lake. A large volcano fell years ago, and a lake formed where it once stood. We were driving on roads that had a sheer cliff drop on one side, pretty cool.

The lake is crystal blue, and I found out later it's because there aren't any rivers that flow sediment into it. It was one of the prettiest natural things I have ever seen.

That night, we went to a top of a butte and watched as the sun set and the moon rose. It was gorgeous.

Side thoughts:

I really have not seen anyone under the age of 25. Though there is a semi big population, it seems to be mostly retired people.

The natural beauty is second to none.

I should have taken this trip years ago.

See you all soon,
Zac