July 30, 2024—My family and I left for Bend on July 29, arriving in the early afternoon. Though warm, the weather wasn’t too uncomfortable when we arrived at the High Desert Museum just south of Bend. The warm weather was too much for some wildlife at the museum who took shelter in the shade or off exhibit in a den. This made shooting pictures of them difficult. I did manage to get a lovely shot of a bobcat and porcupine. I had to make a couple of trips and wait around for a while to get a couple of shots of a river otter. I’ve taken better shots of river otters on the Salmon River, so discarded all but one.
After leaving the High Desert Museum, we drove to the Old Mill District where we had reserved a table at Greg’s Grill for dinner tonight. We arrived at the Old Mill District an hour early, which gave my family and me time to check out some of the stores there, including REI. It also allowed me to capture some photos of outdoor recreationists enjoying the Deschutes River. A nice breeze helped keep the temperature comfortable.
Even though I have planned some nice meals for our campout during the next two days, my family and I enjoyed dinner at a nice restaurant alongside the Deschutes River as we watched cyclists ride by on the multi-use trail and paddlers and floaters gently drift by. Who says that while out camping you can’t enjoy the finer things of life. There will be plenty of days left for camp food.
After the meal, we headed for Tumalo State Park to set up camp and get ready for tomorrow’s activities. It will be a busy day tomorrow, requiring us to get up early. Tumalo State Park isn’t one of the larger Oregon state parks, but it is a nice park situated alongside the Deschutes River. There are showers available, which I knew we would need as it’s supposed to get into the 90s the next three days and we have several strenuous activities planned. There is also a nice swimming beach there. I chose Tumalo because I felt it was more centrally located to Bend, the High Desert Museum, and our planned paddling and hiking adventures than the other, much larger state park in the area: LaPine. LaPine is also a nice state park, but it was much closer to a wildfire burning south of Bend.
My family and I wanted to have smores, which required a campfire. However, because of the extreme dryness in central Oregon and the potential for wildfires, Tumalo State Park had restricted all campfires. The campfire restriction meant no roasting marshmallows or hot dogs, a favorite of my granddaughter Sophia. While not a showstopper, the joy of sitting around a roaring campfire telling stories, roasting marshmallows for smores or just eating off a stick, or just helping to take the evening chill out of the air may become a thing of the past. A family camping next to us invited Sophia over to their campfire for smores—they had a propane fire pit, which was allowed. That was very nice of them. You can sometimes meet the nicest people when camping.
I turned in early in preparation for getting up at 6 a.m. to be ready to leave by 7 a.m. for Hosmer Lake.
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