summer travel in Bend

A perfect July weekend in Bend:

* Airbnb in the Galveston neighborhood - best location ever! We could walk to restaurants, the yoga studio, across the river to old town, and only minutes from the Deschutes River Trail. We loved this newly constructed Airbnb - minimalist and modern, but with lots of rustic wood and metal touches, great aesthetic, high vaulted ceilings and windows that let in lots of light.

* We got breakfast at Jackson’s Corner pretty much every morning (the cinnamon rolls are decadent). For dinner, we grabbed tacos at El Sancho and sat on the outdoor picnic tables, enjoying the late afternoon heat and the light breeze.

* Vinyasa classes at Namaspa Yoga were the perfect way to offset all of the strain that hiking put on our legs.

* We made the 15-minute drive one morning to Sparrow Bakery - a little hard to take all of the crowds, but it was a great space and the pastries were pretty amazing, including the sugar cookie koi fish we couldn’t resist buying (and eating!)

* Although it was hot during the day, the mornings were downright chilly and the evenings were the perfect temperature once the sun went down, so we took a lot of evening strolls along the Deschutes River, from Mirror Pond to the Old Mill District, watching the crowds float the river on inner tubes, paddleboards, and kayaks.

* The best hiking by far was on the Upper Deschutes Trail, only about a 20-minute drive from our Airbnb. We hiked one day from the Lava Falls trailhead, and a second day from the Aspen trailhead to Dillon Falls - an incredibly beautiful and peaceful hike. I could have sat by the falls for hours, wish I had brought a sketchbook or watercolors . . .