Made it safely to Redding. Wow, it’s over 100 degrees here! Sounds like a good evening to hang out in an air conditioned bar.

For those of you familiar with Shasta Lake – the lake is full to the brim. Usually, there’s a substantial area of bare earth between the water and the trees, but this year, the water is all the way up to the tree line. Nice to see!

I have been to Bend many times in the past, but only for a quick stop, either for lunch or for the night, never seeing much more than the inside of a restaurant or the inside of a motel room. I am so very glad that I decided to spend some more time here.

Bend is a lovely city. Very pedestrian friendly, with long, well maintained paths on either side of the Deschutes river. I stayed in what’s called the “Old Mill District”, where the lumber mills operated when Bend was primarily a lumber town. The mills are long gone but the area has been completely renovated, with shops, restaurants, hotels and parks. Very nice part of town.

From there, it’s an easy two mile walk along the river and through a beautiful riverfront park to downtown, where you’ll find most of the bars, restaurants and, of course, breweries. The largest, and probably most well known of the breweries is Deschutes (Mirror Pond pale ale, Black Butte porter) but there are a lot of smaller breweries also. There are also lots of restaurant choices downtown – I’d personally recommend the High Tides Seafood Grill and the Bend Burger Company (but there’s lots more).

Today I head south on US-97, through Klamath Falls, Oregon to Weed, California. From there, south on I-5 to Redding, California. Redding is not really a destination, just somewhere to stop for the night, though I did pick Redding for a couple of reasons. One, I’ll drive past Shasta Lake and I’m really curious as to how much water is in the lake after all the rain the area got over the winter. Then, tomorrow, I’m heading to Lake Tahoe for a couple of nights and the drive from Redding will take me through Lassen Volcanic National Park, which is always a nice drive.