I just had to post this - it was waiting in OneNote for me to do this. We've been in Oregon for the last weekand a half visiting with family and friends before we leave for Ireland on July 17th. After leaving Umatilla we travelled through the Bend-Redmond area on Hwy. 97 before heading up Century Drive (aka Cascade High Lakes Hwy.). Wow has Bend grown over the last 15 years since Gret and I last visited during winter ski trips. 80+ thousand now (larger than sweet little Missoula) with a renewed downtown, a lot of roundabouts to accommodate increased traffic volumes from new subdivisions on the way up Century Drive, and the new Hwy 97 throughpass.
Given the Idaho Aquatic Invasive Species program I mentioned in the last post, we inquired about one in OR and learned that there is a fledgling program just being implemented. Signage is up at boat launches, and permits are required for craft 10 ft or longer (these are good for a year and transferable). It will be interesting to see how effective the program will be once fully implemented - I'll research it more further to better understand what its parameters are. In the meantime, here is a pic of a boat/car/RV washing station at the Port of Siuslaw, near Old Town Florence, where we spent a nice night camping before driving up the coast to Newport (nice to be back on the Oregon coast - the most scenic in the land!).
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