160 Miles of Green

 Our goal of staying in Bend, besides seeing this city of 100,000 people, has been to visit the nearby town of Sisters, Oregon. This little city of 2,500 population lies at the intersection of the Mackenzie and Santiam Roads, roads that cross over the Cascades through passes of the same name. Let me tell you about our day.

We left Bend on Highway 20, heading northwest. About halfway there, we stopped at a viewpoint to (hopefully) see the mountain peaks.

Unfortunately, it was too hazy to see much of anything.

So, we settled for a great look at cloud formations!

We elected to do a drive through of Sisters at this point, and got on hwy 126, going west. Periodically, we we saw the remains of lava flows from any one of the now-dormant volcanoes in the mountains. This is the Belknap Flow.

We’ve been in some spectacular areas lately, but this part of the Cascades is the literal definition of the word!

From time to time, we would get a glimpse of a mountain peak. This is Mt Washington.

There have been devastating fires in the area, some more recent than others, but all heartbreaking.

On the return trip, after we had made a u turn in Belknap Springs, we stopped for one last look at Mt Washington.

A closer look at Sisters led us to conclude that the town caters to hikers, bikers, snow skiers, and proponents of almost any other type of outdoor adventure, in addition to being a great place to shop, have coffee, and patronize one of the many restaurants. On a recommendation, we decided to try out High Camp. This is billed as a taphouse, with dozens of different beers on tap, but we went for the food.

Can you imagine a Himalayan take on a hamburger? Tibetan drunken noodles? Spicy curry? All that and more at High Camp! A couple of years ago Guy Fiery found time to take a taste here for his tv program Diners, Driveins, and Dives. We don’t know how that worked out, but our meal was wonderful!

A couple of glasses of Boneyard Light went well with our Himalayan sandwiches. We have been trying to figure out what spices were used in preparation, but those burgers were spectacular! Cumin? Ginger? This will haunt me for a long time!

Our visit to Sisters was great, and we intend to return! If only for a beer and a burger!

We drove 160 miles today for a burger, but will never forget the beauty of the Cascade Mountains.