Oregon

I spent a few hours driving around Redmond this morning. Even though Redmond is much closer to Smith Rock and the airport than Bend (like 10 minutes away to each, instead of 35-40 minutes), and is one of the fastest-growing towns in Oregon with even some culture/events, I didn’t really care for the town. Mainly because it is too dry, like the Central Valley or the East Bay foothills, and feels kind of like a suburban town with tract home after tract home (never mind some of these tract homes are very nice). Continue reading »

Bend is the largest town in Central Oregon and is celebrating it’s centennial year this year (2005). It first caught my interest because 1) being just east of the Cascades in high desert country, it does not rain nearly as much as any city in western Oregon from Portland to Medford, and 2) a number of high-profile athletes seem to have defected there from California. It was my first major stop in my 2-month “Great American Western Tour“, and it certainly did not disappoint.

In addition to going around the city and making my own conclusions, I got some GREAT insights and information from two friends of AJ, Margey and Hunza. Margey, it turns out, used to babysit AJ when he was just a little kid in Massachusettes! She lived in Bend for 7 years and Hunza exactly 8 when I met him (on his birthday), and truly seem to love the place. I cannot blame them. Below are impressions I got from them, from what I witnessed, along with research of the ‘net. Continue reading »

On my way up to Bend, I decided to camp overnight at Crater Lake in Oregon. Formerly a volcano that collapsed after an eruption 7000 years ago, Crater Lake is the only national park in this state. It also happens to be the deepest lake in the nation — 1943 feet at its maximum depth — and 7th deepest in the world. The water, some of the most pristine in the world, is a blue hue a tad deeper than that of the sky, and so placid that the enclosing rock walls are mirrored with perfect symmetry. Continue reading »

I initially went up to Portland, Oregon to run the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon and to watch some fireworks on the harbor later that night. As it turns out, I also attended the Waterfront Blues Festival (largest in the nation west of the Mississippi), had dinner with Bob and his sister Cathy off of Hawthorne street, and went to a 4th of July BBQ with Mike’s Team in Training triathlon group, I left Portland thinking that I could be comfortable even living there.

More photos are here from this particular trip. Check out my full report on Portland from a few weeks later.

On the way up to Portland, Oregon, for the Foot Traffic Flat Marathon, I stopped in Eugene for a dose of inspiration. This college town (3rd largest city in Oregon) is known as “Track City USA” due to the number of track legends that have come from here, including Bill Bowerman (co-founder of Nike), Phil Knight (the other co-founder and current Nike CEO), Bill Delinger, Steve Prefontaine, Frank Shorter, Alberto Salazar, etc. To my delight, the University of Oregon even had posted a tribute to Bowerman, Delinger, and Prefontaine at Hayward field sometime since my last visit there in 2003. Continue reading »