Pioneer Park / Kirtsis Swim Tank

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I wanted to finish the walk we did at Pioneer Park after the Parade so here are a few more photos. The interesting part of this walk is that we discovered that it also had a swim tank. Who would of guessed.

Sign is located near the northwestern corner of Pioneer Park.

C9 - Kirtsis Swim Tank
Purportedly the largest outdoor swimming tank in the state in the 1920s was located in Bend on the banks of the Deschutes River, just downstream from Pioneer Park. The 50 x 150 foot steel tank held 330,000 gallons of water. The water came directly from the Deschutes River, was heated by a burner that utilized sawdust from Bend sawmills, and then returned to the river. The swimming tank was part of the Bend Auto Court complex built in 1927 by the three Kirtsis brothers, immigrants from Greece who had earlier homesteaded east of Bend. The tank was open to the public, in addition to Auto Court guests, and the daily entrance fee was 10 cents.
Built: 1927

If you look at the were the ripples of the water is you can almost see were the pool might of been. Please enlarge the photos for better viewing

This is my world

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In my world this week we are having some really cold weather, and our first real snow. I know there are places that have it worse then us, so i really shouldn't be complaining. But our temperature has dropped to -1 at one point. It is suppose to be that way for a couple more days.
Anyway here is a photo of that stray cat that has the babies i can't find. I finally decided to bring her into the office. Do you think she is one Happy Cat? Problem is she has babies and so i have to let her out several times a day, which she is not liking. Now talk about spoiled, I carry her to the edge of the property,put her under the Juniper tree were she goes potty and leave her, she then goes and feeds her babies were ever they are,we looked early this morning at the cable place and found her tracks and then they stopped. She has them hid well.

So everyone is doing a lot of snow shoveling, i love the hat this guy is wearing, keeps everything on the head nice and warm.
So what is the temperature in your part of the world?

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Sky watch

My Sky watch for this week is here

After the Christmas Parade

After we went to the Christmas Parade we decided to stay at Pioneer Park as the traffic was real heavy, so thought we would check this park out. The ducks and geese were plentiful.... It is well known for weddings, check the site out for more information.

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This is my World

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Sat was the Christmas Parade here in Bend, this was the second one that we have gone too in 16 yrs. Usually it is so cold that i don't enjoy standing out there and fighting the crowds, but this yr the weather was 57 degrees, what a great day. So i want to share a few of my favorites that was in the parade.

Of course Santa and the reindeers has to be the best....... And look at this Cat Mobile isn't it fantastic? Look at the eyes here.
The Beaver
Not sure if i like more, the snowman or the car, but i guess both are cute
And then there are these cuties, i hope that you click on the photos to see these neat dogs all hooked up to the sled. So darn cute.
This one is really cute too.
When they were going down the street they had these flops on that really looked like web feet.

Future home of Riverbend Community Park

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Saturday we decided to take a drive and check out the other side of the Old Mill District were the new park has been going in, our first time to actually visit and take a walk. One thing about Bend we have many Parks for your strolling pleasure.
Click on the photo to see what it will look like when totally completed.

Here is a play area for the kids
Rock climbing anyone? The kids looked like they were having a great time
Also click on this photo to see the bridge and the ducks
The buildings here are some of the industrial buildings, guess i need to go see what they all have in them. Also they have part of this blocked off so they can put more pavers in for the side walk. Can't imagine what all this has to cost.But sure is pretty
Had to catch the sun in the water and the reflections of the tree. I must say the weather for the Thanksgiving week couldn't of been more perfect. Mostly running around 65 to 68 degrees. Just gorgeous. But not good for our ski resort.
And here is a fellow canoeing looks like he was enjoying himself.
So that is my world this week, Hope that you enjoyed my part of the world?

Sky watch over Bend

Happy Thanksgiving to all. Hope that you all had a great day
Tonight i took this shot of the skies, what could be better than this shot for Turkey Day

This is my World

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Umpqua Lighthouse:
I wanted to finish up with the light house from last weeks post, which is below this one. Do you see the handles outside the windows ? We were told that they had to go out and clean the windows daily, and with the high winds they would have to hang on to something or get blown off, and that is why they have these handles put on.
If you click on the photo you may be able to read what is posted here, also shows the photo of how they held on while cleaning the glass.

Umpqua Lighthouse Part 12

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.At the entrance to Winchester Bay and at the mouth of the Umpqua River, stands a sentinel of the ocean, casting its red and white beams of light some 20 miles out to sea. The 65-foot tower is situated on a hill 100 feet above sea level surrounded by US Coast Guard buildings and a Museum.

An earlier light structure, the first on the Oregon Coast, was built in 1857 on the south side of the river. It fell into the swollen water seven years later during a storm when the water eroded away the sand.

The current lighthouse was started in 1890 and was illuminated in 1894. It is the sister lighthouse to the one at Heceta Head just a few miles north of Florence. Both structures were built from the same plans.

We took the tour to see the inside and this is the first time i have ever gone inside a lighthouse, so this was very interesting, our tour guide was very good in telling the story of the light house. There were 3 flights of stairs a total of 68 stairs i think he said

Can you imagine having to climb those on a daily bases?You would never have to worry about getting enough excersie

The Umpqua Light shines through a first order Fresnel lens made of 616 glass prisms handcrafted in France and weighing two tons. It is a beautiful display of fine craftsmanship and produces a spectacular colored light show at dusk.
This is especially true if there is a very light mist in the air. The light rotates out to sea and on the trees behind it on the landward side. The light shines 24 hours a day, but visit after dark or before sunrise, if you possibly can. As you enter Umpqua Lighthouse State Park, down a winding road, the light's rainbow beacon rotates through the tall pines with alternating white, white and red beams. The 65 foot tower is brick covered with white stucco, but you will not be able to take you eyes off this fantastic lens.
The lens assembly was originally turned by a clockwork mechanism much like a grandfather clock, powered by a huge weight which had to be wound up by the lightkeeper every four hours.

This motive power is now performed by an electric motor and monitored by sophisticated equipment, which notifies the Coast Guard station if a malfunction occurs.
The original oil lamp has been replaced with a high powered 1,000 watt electric bulb. A spare bulb is mounted on a panel, which automatically moves it into place should the first one burn out.

In November of 1983 the old chariot wheel mechanism that rotates the light broke down. The Coast Guard promptly installed an airport beacon on the tower and made plans to remove the original lens. Local residents launched a storm of protest until the Coast Guard relented and repaired the rotating apparatus.
The lighthouse was restored by the US Coast Guard and is maintained by them.

Lunch at Anchor Grill Part 11

Ok so another one of the stupidest things we did was leave Tugman campground not knowing that we were only a few miles from Winchester. Dumb! Dumb! Dumb! Well anyway we got a campground at Winchester called Windy Cove nice state park, i think there was only about 3 other rigs there the whole night. Must say that everything we saw aroung the areas we went too was pretty much empty. Well anyway full hookup was $18.00
Windy Cove A (541-271-4138) and Windy Cove B (541-271-5634) are located adjacent to Salmon Harbor at Winchester Bay via Hwy 101, 4 miles south of Reedsport. Camp sites at Windy Cove A are “first come, first serve”. 21 hookup sites (out of 40) are reservable at Windy Cove B through the park office (541-957-7001). We also accept reservations for 8 of our 29

Anyway we decided to get some lunch before heading over to the Umpqua Lighthouse
and decided to stop at the Anchor Grill, you see those bushes well there must of been about 50 birds that decided to land in there, and let me tell ya, i tried real hard to capture them with my camera, but have to say they hid very well in there.

The restaurant was nice and clean, with nice atmosphere.
Nevada had there Clam Chowder which he said was very good, we knew that we didn't want to stop at any Mo's restaruant because the last few times we did there clam chowder tasted more like potatoe soup than clam.
I chose the mushroom burger and waffle fries, very good as well so i highly recommend this place for a decent meal.

They had this hanging on the wall and thought it interesting made me smile anyway

Tugman State Park part 10

Eel Lake is brimming with fishing opportunities. The brush-lined shore, steep drop-off and underwater structure makes it the perfect lake for a bass boat and bass fishing. The lake has a good population of largemouth bass (some running up to five pounds), and other fish species include crappie, rainbow trout (which are stocked), steelhead, and coho salmon. All coho, even those under 15 inches must be released. There is a fully-accessible fishing dock at the day use area near the boat ramp. Trout and bass are often caught from the dock.
Only saw one lady fishing off the dock, said she didn't catch anything Very pretty setting however. Click on photos for better viewing.



They also have a really nice park there.



Our campsite at Tugman state park

We stayed there one day and half, as we didn't realize just how close we were from the other campground, oh well it was only $12 for full hookups here, a few bucks cheaper than the other place. It was a nice park this is the only photos i got from there. They didn't have very many people there either i think maybe 6 or 7 rigs, all the yurts said reserved, but we never saw a soul there that night or early in the morning, so guessing they don't rent them out in the off season.Maybe only on weekends.