“Bend welcomed us with fresh air and clear skies. This was everything we could ask for as we flew in from the wildfires of California. We will certainly come back with more time in our hands.”
CENTRAL OREGON
Autumn of 2018 in California is one to forget… We’ve been breathing unhealthy air quality for not weeks but months now. What to do in situations like these? Stay home & watch movies? Maybe write about a current experience as I am doing right now? Sure, we can find things to do, but boy doesn’t a run outside, a smell of fresh air, a cold beer outdoors sound nice about now. While I sit here with smoke outside my window, let me show you where I spent one of my weekends during these wildfires.
You see, our friend Panha (@panha.sethy) knows how to fly a plane. He’s an instructor for anyone who wants to learn. So here you go, Panha. Plug. lol And together with Jimmy (@timmyjang) and my cousin Bruna (@brunaeff), all decided to spend a little bit of money and escape the wildfires in California. The plan? Rent a plane, fly out north to Bend, OR.
This is how it went down:
Wake up in the morning, feelin’ like P. Diddy. Just kidding. lol. The plan was to drive to Livermore. Fly off to Medford and have brunch. Add fuel. Fly over Crater Lake before finally landing in Bend. During lift off, the air quality was horrible. Smoke everywhere. As we took off, and got farther away from the bay and passed by near Chico (where the fire started), the smoke only got denser. Obviously below us, we weren’t actually flying into the fire if that’s what you’re thinking. But to give you perspective- from Livermore to Redding, all you see below is smoke. It wasn’t until the border to Oregon and coming near Medford that we were able to see better air quality that wasn’t affected by the fires.
Oregon was Bruna’s first state outside of California. So she was thrilled to be a part of the trip. It was also her first time seeing snow. Jimmy and I, also had never been to either Medford nor Bend. So this was pretty exciting. Once we landed- we realized that temperatures were colder than expected. We were all in temperatures below zero degrees Celsius wearing Bay Area 70 degrees Fahrenheit weather clothes. Medford was great. We had brunch in this little spot called Butter Cloud, had a walk in the park to digest, and quickly started to make our way to Crater Lake.
Flying over Crater Lake put in one simple term: dope! I’ve tried in two different occasions drive to Crater Lake. Once in January of 2016 and three months later again in April of 2016 and both times were impeded by the amount of snowfall. ALL the roads were literally closed with snowfall taller than the chevy we were driving. So this was my first time officially seeing the deepest lake in the United States. The timing for picture purposes weren’t the best as we arrived in Crater Lake around 1:30/2pm. Harsh strong lighting- however, the sincerity in the blue of the lake was incredible. So bold. So blue. So pure.
After one round about above the lake, to Bend we went. Arrival time was 4:50pm. We quickly parked the plane, grabbed our rental car and drove to our airbnb. The airbnb was great. There was a small frozen pond outside which Bruna tried to walk on top- and to our luck fell waist deep in. After lots of screaming, we showered, stopped by TJ Maxx to purchase new pants and shoes, and went to drink flights of beers and have pizza for dinner! A well deserved meal at 10 Barrel Brewing after one long hour of wait.
The next day, brunch once again. BEST chicken and waffles I’ve had to date. If you have a recommendation, please let me know. And if you’re ever in Bend, do try Bad Wolf Bakery & Bistro. Right after, we were pleasantly surprised by the veteran’s day festival happening downtown. Pretty sure 80% of the city of Bend was out that day. Once the festival ended and the access to the road was open, we drove to Tumalo Falls.
A mid day small hike up the waterfall— so damn refreshing. So nice to see blue skies, smell pine, and hear the roaring water. If you’ve been following me for a while you know that whenever I find myself near a waterfall, to explore we go. Tumalo Falls was no different. We noticed it was a simple drive away, so together, the four of us hiked up and down before driving to Smith Rock, our last destination before sunset.
Smith Rock was magical. We didn’t explore one tenth of the state park since we arrived a few minutes before sunset, but nonetheless what a beautiful place. It was so interesting to go from a very green waterfall hike to a dry orange desert in the middle of Oregon. The colors there were a mixture of yellow, orange & golden. The sun would hide behind the rocks making all the orange pop in that beautiful part of the day: the golden hour. Because it was our last destination before dinner and the winter night approaching rapidly- we captured a couple of pictures, hiked back up to the parking lot, and made our way to Deschutes Brewery, our last dinner & brew in Bend.
Before flying back to Livermore, I asked Panha to stop by the South Sister. The captain said it would be ok, and oh my god what a scene. A highlight on our last day in Oregon before flying back to smokey California. Rain please come soon!
