The city of Bend Oregon lies in the middle of the state, just east of the Cascade Mountains and along the Deschutes River. It is situated on what is called the high desert Columbia Plateau. The high desert thing was new to us so it was fortunate that they just happened to have a High Desert Museum just South of town for us to learn a few things about it.
It is a very well done museum with wildlife exhibits, pioneer exhibits, a replica farm and sawmill from 1900, a Native American exhibit and talks scheduled throughout the day. We managed to catch talks on native plant adaptation, raptors and river otters.
above: A replica log cabin “on the farm”.
They also have a huge collection of bronze statues which were planted throughout the grounds and would surprise us at every turn. Unfortunately, I was a little “spacey” that day and didn’t get pictures of any of them.
left: the Big Dude takes notes about wetland plants. (yes, believe it or not, there are wetlands nearby).
right: The Lil’ Dude takes notes about native plants.
Volunteers in period dress are also stationed in different areas of the museum to give a life like feel to the experience. There were two volunteers stationed in the Pioneer exhibit which were interesting to talk to as they stayed “in character” when we interacted with them.
left and below: The “school marm” gives the Big Dude a hand writing lesson, his first experience with an ink well.
Of course, the most exciting part of the museum were the animals. Most of the animals were rescued animals that can no longer survive in the wild and now have pretty nice “digs” at the museum.
left and below: River Otter
left: A Lynx
right: A Bobcat
left: A Rattlesnake
right: The Big Dude studies owl wings.
right: The Lil’ Dude never misses an opportunity to socialize.
We ended up spending the whole day at the museum, learned some history about the area, it’s flora and fauna, got to see some really cool animals and now we know a little more about the high desert.
“The wildlands are like a magic well; The more that is drawn from them in knowledge and benefits, the more there will be to draw”. Edward Osborne Wilson – The Diversity of Life
bla