Staccato at the Fire Hall in Bend, Oregon

Sunday | 11 May 2007 | Bend, Oregon:  We moved - not too far - this afternoon to Bend. La Pine State Park is very, very nice and we hope to return one day for a longer visit. May seems to be the perfect time of year too. The campsites only offer 20 amps of power - not enough to run an RV air conditioner - and the temperatures climb to the high 90's most summer days. Spring and Fall visits would be best. One of the park hosts is also a Datastormer, and he came by with his wife to say hello this morning - that is always fun! Thanks, Jerry & Bev!

DT wanted to get diesel for the bus and I had orders to ship, so we each took "our own car" and met up later at our usual campground in Bend. I took a slight detour and stopped to see the largest Ponderosa pine tree in Oregon, just a few miles from La Pine State Park. The tree, "Big Red" (pinus ponderosa) estimated to be around 500 years old, is 162 feet tall and nearly nine feet in diameter.

The species standing at the bottom of the tree is obviously "Big Pink" (homo sapien), estimated to be around 50 years old, five feet tall and somewhat less than nine feet in diameter.

Since I was alone, the auto-mode on my camera was used to take this photo. Gadget-geek extraordinaire, I am still not familiar with this feature on my camera, so the procedure was probably quite amusing to the squirrels and birds. The only tree stump (i.e. tripod) for this exercise was really far away and I had to race to the fence to get this pose. Well, that was fun and I have now seen the largest Ponderosa pine in Oregon.

Our traveling home parked at Crown Villa RV Resort in Bend, Oregon

For our evening meal, we decided to try the fairly-new Staccato at the Fire Hall. Staccato at the Fire Hall is an Italian restaurant situated in the original firehouse in downtown Bend, Oregon. The restaurant is very pretty, though a bit loud - maybe due to all the brick walls, and features Oregon products in an Italian-inspired menu. DT and I really liked Staccato.

Staccato at the Fire Hall

The lovely Gillian served us an interesting array of delicious courses and Italian wines. We had to try their Artichoke Dip appetizer - grilled artichoke hearts, served with flat bread. Baked in their pizza oven, the dip was very similar to the usual artichoke dip, but with an addictive, crispy cheese crust.

Artichoke Dip: with grilled artichoke hearts, served with crispy flat bread

Our salad and entree courses were also very good. DT had a pasta dish with sausage, artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes. His starter was sautéed calamari, which he enjoyed quite a bit. My favorite dish was the Spring Salad - warm asparagus in two sauces. Wonderful.

Spring Salad: warm asparagus, tomato balsamic jus, chive vinaigrette,
goat cheese and toasted pine nuts from Staccato at the Fire Hall


Chicken Marsala: pan seared with whipped potatoes, baby carrots
and a forest mushroom Marsala sauce
(with a purple potato chip on top)

RV Park: Crown Villa RV Resort