Hi All ~ I know it’s been a long time since we’ve chatted ~ we hope you all are still with us! 

Just to give you an update, we are still in our home (The Paddle House) in Bend Oregon and have been working our buns off, doing lots and lots of house projects/maintenance, since we arrived in May.  It looks like we’ll be here for another 90 days or so, but I’ll tell you about that later. First, I wanted to tell you about a fun time we had.

We had a little mix up with our VRBO reservations this month. Most everyone cancelled due to COVID-19, but we had one group who really wanted to come to Bend. They were visiting family here and felt comfortable, so we agreed to let them keep the reservation and stay in our home from August 5^th to August 10^th.  So, we had to find a place to live for those five days. Long story short……our neighbor, Angie’s, brother and sister-in-law own a cabin in Camp Sherman, right on the Metolius River, and offered it to us and we accepted.

So, on Wednesday morning we pulled ourselves away from our projects, piled the dogs in the car and took off on the hour-long drive to Camp Sherman in the Deschutes National Forest. About 10 miles past the town of Sisters we turned onto the “Camp Sherman’s 5 mile” road. Three miles later, after our cell phones displayed “no service”, we turned onto to a dusty “washboard” gravel/dirt road and traveled another 1.5 miles to Tract #25 and the cabin.  After finally finding the key to our home-away-from-home, we opened the door and pulled back the drapes to find a lovely home with a remodeled kitchen, beamed ceilings, lots of paned glass windows and doors with sunlight streaming though, two bedrooms, two baths and a big back deck overlooking the Metolius River through massive Lodgepole and Ponderosa pine trees. Wow! Besides no cell service there was NO TV, NO internet, only a plug-in radio.

Since we couldn’t watch the news, or Jeopardy or Wheel of Fortune, we took the doggies for a walk along the river path. It started to sprinkle so we headed back to the cabin. Michael had to do something that required the internet, so he took the car and drove (the washboard road) back up to the main road to get a connection. About that time the skies opened up! Pouring rain, crashing thunder and bright lightning sent Snooki over the edge, so she and I huddled together on the sofa. Then, I heard another strange sound and got up to investigate. Looking out the French doors to the deck I saw moth-ball sized hail pelting us. Back on the sofa, we continued to huddle and hoped we would survive the electrical storm in this new-to-us home with massively tall trees right on the water. Yikes! Michael arrived back safely, the storm passed, and we prepared a lovely dinner.

In the mornings we would get up to cool temperatures in the high 30’s, low 40’s make coffee, toast or bagels and take the dogs for a walk along the path saying hi and chatting with the neighbors. Then we would pile in the car to go exploring for a few hours in the afternoon. We enjoyed the awesome sights, sounds and smells (Ponderosa pines smell of vanilla) of nature all around us. We visited the Head of the Metolius, Detroit Lake, Billy Chinook Lake, Suttle Lake and Resort, Blake Butte Lake and Resort and Sisters.

We also took a drive to Nimrod, where friends from San Diego bought a cabin and came back on the Old McKenzie Pass which was one of the most scenic and beautiful drives we have ever taken. It’s closed, due to snow, from November to June and because of the sharp hair-pin curves vehicles over 23 feet are banned. Incredible!

After enjoying the outdoors on the deck, we’d come in prepare dinner,(one night we had a deer join us for dinner just outside our dining window) chat and read some more. At bedtime when the lights went out the only light outside was moonlight and stars and the only sounds were from the river water rushing over the rocks. Michael thought it sounded just like the 805 freeway, but it really was quite nice. The temperatures allowed us to sleep with the windows open as we let the cool breezes lull us to sleep.

We had a lovely time in nature, away from technology, for a few days and headed home early Monday morning.

As I mentioned earlier, we will be here in Bend for another three months or so. Michael was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer. The good news is that it appears to be contained and the doctors think radiation treatments will knock it out. He goes in for an MRI on September 1^st then should start a 39- week treatment plan about two weeks after that.

Bend is certainly not a bad place to hang out for a while. We have a comfortable, remodeled two bedroom, two bath home with a big side deck for BBQ’s and a cozy front porch for sipping coffee and/or wine and chatting with the neighbors. The location is awesome ~ walking distance to great restaurants, breweries, grocery stores, hardware stores, local shops and big box stores. And just a few minutes away, by car, you can be secluded in the woods overlooking pristine lakes and waterfalls, float the river or even surf. Bend is truly a happy place and we would love for you come for a visit.

Will keep you posted.