All You Can Play Video Games $5

June 27-29, 2019

Bend Sunriver RV Resort, Bend, Oregon

Day 13-15

Left early; no rain (and no Barry)! Really happy I put the hitch on the night before though. Drive to Bend was relatively easy. The grades were gradual, and it was scenic too. Didn't know this, but Bend is high dessert. Again, no real traffic which I love. The camp site is really nice, very well organized, clean and family friendly. I had to back in, which was easy. Weather now is partly cloudy and a little cool – around 58-60F.

After having a quick lunch at camp, I set out to find Sparky some exercise - which by the way is my first priority. Happy dog, happy mom. I found three off leash dog parks. The first one we went to was the BEST – 4 paw review – Pine Nursery Dog Park. It’s a new park with a separate fenced in area for the small dogs. It was nice, but too small to really throw the ball, so we went to the big dog side which was huge with a variety of terrain including a huge open green grass field. Awesome. Met a local and talked about the traffic.

Yes, Bend has traffic. The city has grown so much recently, and they have so much new construction including new roads; but the new roads are not enough. Traffic was really stressful, even though most of it was polite some was really aggressive. Drove around the Power House area and did some tax-free shopping at REI. You can tell that people love the outdoors here.

Just an observation…I only saw fit and healthy white people until I had to stop into Walmart to get E. coli water test strips. I really dislike going to Walmart and this location was no exception...plus they didn't have what I was looking for. City seems very clean, and I see no homeless. Maybe they ship them out? Also, the radio here is pretty awful. Mostly top 40, some country, a classic rock, several Christian options but thankfully one good station, 88.1. No TV reception at the camp, that’s ok because I am not missing it yet.

Day 2 - Started with home/office work then off to another dog park – River Bend Dog Park, near Power Station. Basically, this is a large bare gravel lot, next to a gravel parking lot, next to a 10-foot access to the river. If your dog loves to fetch in the water, this park is for you. It was not for us, but we did walk around the Power Station area which was nice and manicured.

Drove a few blocks away to downtown and walked around for 2 hours. Happened upon this AMAZING video game store (Volcano Arcade) where you can play vintage video games like Pac Man, Galaga and others for only $5.00 an hour. What a deal!!! You can also order beer! I played Galaga for 45 minutes. I couldn’t make it past stage six but was able to put my name on the score board 3 times. I love this game! I think if I had a chair and a cocktail, I would have been there longer. Sparky was not amused, so we left. Then, I treated myself to an excellent non-dairy gelato and espresso across the street.

Again, could not help and notice the lack of diversity here; and I didn’t see any homeless. Kind of makes me think they shipped them away, to say Eugene…?

Ended the day with another dog park – Good Dog Park. This one was really hard to find, it's part of the Deschutes National Forest. Great for big dogs, but not for us. Did find a closer access to the river which was really lovely. It was raining though so we didn't stay too long. Very remote park, but wonderfully magical with the light scent of pine and sweet bird music you get after a storm.

My hip has been bothering me. It started to be a problem right before I left on this trip, and I just brushed it off thinking it's linked to my diet which I could control. (Several years ago, I cleaned out my diet of dairy and gluten and reduced my carb intake. I have never felt better.) The last few weeks I cut down carbs even more but that didn't seem to make a difference. I had an epiphany on the drive...maybe my hip inflammation is linked to salt!!! Honestly, I have never been shy around salt. Going to stop using and see what happens. This is going to be hard, but I have to figure pain this out.

Took park of the scenic Cascade Lake drive back to camp. Went to bed early because tomorrow we are going to Portland.