Sisters, Oregon

Yesterday we journeyed from our overnight stop in Boise, Idaho to Camp Sherman, a small resort "town" not far from Sisters, Oregon. We had intended to stay in Sisters but all the campgrounds that we could find were full up so we found this small campground in the middle of the forest. Not a bad place really though television, internet and phone service is non-existent.

So today's mission was to explore the Sisters and Bend areas. We started at McDonald's in Sisters to get some breakfast (as our breakfast supplies were depleted) and - more importantly - WiFi. After posting our whereabouts on Facebook, checking e-mail and doing some other incidental on-line stuff, we headed into Sisters for a look around.


The first thing we found was a farmstand with fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables for sale. We stopped and bought some peaches, a cantaloupe and a tomato.

 Then we took a drive through the rest of the town. It really is a quaint little tourist trap. Just about every shop on Main Street was tourist related. 

One of the gift shops in Sisters

 And... another gift shop - is this maybe a tourist town?

This is a real estate brokerage - just in case one of the tourists wants to move here

After making a couple of passes through Sisters, we decided to head down the road to Bend about 20 miles away. Bend is the largest city in the region with about 80,000 residents.

 We found this sculpture at an intersection as we waited for a traffic light. The sculpture was commissioned by the city's Art in Public Places committee as a step toward rejuvenating its downtown area. The man is resting on a bench looking into his empty wallet contemplating what to do next. Ducks from the nearby Mirror Pond keep him company. 

It was getting to be mid-afternoon and we hadn't eaten lunch so we began searching for a suitable place to eat. We found the Black Bear Diner along our route and decided to give it a try. Turns out it is a local chain with 68 locations in eight western states specializing in homestyle and "old fashioned" comfort foods. 

It was pretty good and we certainly didn't go away hungry!

Outside the front door of the Black Bear Diner we found numerous carved bears engaging in very un-bearlike activities like these two riding a bicycle.