Day Fifteen and Sixteen

Mondays and Tuesdays are our designated “no cleaning” days so we were able to relax….until one of the other interns decided it would be a good idea to walk to town at 8 p.m. Let me make this clear, Bend is at least a 10 minute car drive, it’s a highway with a small shoulder and cougars roam the area. This particular intern did not tell anyone he was going to town and therefore, until midnight, Rachel, Kate and I drove around the nearby trails in our crappy truck looking for him, figuring he was eaten by a cougar. Eventually, he walked in the door, but we were mad. The plus side was that there are almost no lights around the sanctuary at night which means the stars were incredibly visible. It was breath-taking to see the Milky Way clearly and many of the constellations I learned about in astronomy class.


Today, Bonnie, one of the care-givers, took us to Deschutes National Park which houses Tumalo Falls. We hiked three miles to the falls and three back. It seem like Oregonians are extremely outdoorsy---as well as lovers of Subaru. Also, I have never seen such clear freshwater before---Iowa’s rivers are usually tainted with brown mud or something, but here, I could see every pebble on the bottom of the river.
Kate, me, Bonnie and Rachel at the Tumalo Falls in Deschutes National Park.
Tumalo Falls.

Deschutes National Park.

Tumbleweed on a nearby trail.

On a walk.