Bend, Oregon

 Trooper loves going anywhere and everywhere with us.  He likes to plant his head on our seat so he can see where we are going. 

 We had a lovely time in Bend.  It's a pretty drive and a really neat town.  When I went to get us coffee at 7am, the whole coffee bar was taken up by silent people watching the Tour de France.  The downtown is very cute.  Jim said, "My mom would love it here." 

 While Jim was at work, I took Trooper to Riverbend Park.  The terrain is a lot different than Bend.  Once you cross the Cascades, it is a lot more arid. 

 Trooper liked these flowers. 

 When Jim was done working, we picked him up and did some discovering.  We ate a place called Boken, which served a variety of Asian food. 

 I told Jim that I was certain there's a direct correlation between liking your food more when you eat outside.  Especially when it's 75, sunny, a Friday off from work, and you're drinking Serrano pepper infused vodka with your husband and dog (seated below the table.) 

 Jim had green curry with snapper and I had fried rice with shrimp and pork belly.  Those are shrimp chips next to the rice.  Pretty yummy!

 You can see snow covered mountains in Bend. 

 We walked in Drake Park and Trooper really wanted to catch some ducks. 

 I took Jim back to Riverbend Park.  Trooper even got in the water!  (A little.)  My new hypothesis is that he doesn't know how to swim. 

 That dog is one of my favorite organisms. 

 We stopped outside of Sisters to takes a few pictures.  If you come visit us, we'll take you to cool places like this. 

 From left to right, those mountains are Broken Top and the Three Sisters.  On clear days you can sometimes see those in parts of Eugene. 

This is the lava rock that you see near the highest parts of the Cascades.  Another fun adventure together.