Adventures in Bend with Jenny

Last week my friend Jenny asked if I would like to meet her in Bend (Central Oregon) for a mini vacation. After a very hectic, emotionally draining month I jumped at the idea. God, in his infinite goodness provided a free place for us to stay with some wonderful people, and a rental car for me to take (so I didn't get stuck on the side of the road in one of our beater cars ;). Wednesday I left Medford and Jenny left Portland at exactly the same time. We drove the beautiful mountainous roads to Bend and miraculously arrived at exactly the same time.

Thanks to some wonderful new friends, and Bend locals, we found some of the best places around to enjoy the scenery...

Around every bend in the road (no pun intended!) we found ourselves gasping at the beauty of God's creation and stopping to take pictures...

After missing the turnoff to our original destination we found ourselves at Elk Lake where we rented a canoe for the afternoon and paddled around basking in the sunlight, with a view of the rugged snow capped mountains...

From Elk Lake we drove back to Todd Lake (our original destination) and hiked around the lake through meadows of purple, pink, and yellow wildflowers, with snow covered mountains on either side...
It reminded me of Switzerland or some other exotic place...

Thursday evening we headed to the Old Mill District for dinner. I had butternut squash, gorgonzola, hazelnut ravioli and tiramisu on a patio overlooking the Deschutes River, with Mt. Bachelor in the distance. What a glorious day.

Friday we headed downtown to peruse the shops and walk along the river, through Drake Park.

For lunch we found ourselves at 'The Crepe Place.'

While I was eating the most delicious crepes of my life (one with chicken, mozzerella, and pesto; the other with marionberries, and vanilla frozen yogurt) we got quite a show from a local cross dresser. Please note the person sitting behind me in this picture...

This tall man, who'd obviously had breast implants, was wearing jean shorts, and a colorful bikini top, along with 4 inch bright red platform shoes. In his hand he had a leash with a cat on it. The whole town apparently knows him/her because as they walked by they would say "Hi Frank," to which he would reply "It's Monica. I'm going by Monica now." They would ask about his fake pet cat (and his real pet cat) and he would ask where they were going and where they were coming from. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing as he sat two feet behind me and had these conversations. Life is always interesting.

Thank you Jesus, Jenny, and Bend for a lovely, much needed vacation :)