A FLEXIBLE VISIT TO BEND, OREGON WITHOUT A BOAT

 

Falling in love with Bend, Oregon while attending the Oregon Writers Conference at the Riverhouse Lodge

By Jennifer Silva Redmond, Author of Honeymoon at Sea.  Next in a continuing series of liveaboard (and off) adventures. 

My recent trip to beautiful Bend, Oregon, wasn’t really meant to be a vacation. I was scheduled to teach at the inaugural Central Oregon Writers Conference and the venue for the event was Bend’s Riverhouse Lodge. Having visited Bend before, I knew we were in for a treat, but I hadn’t counted on the drive there being one of them. 

 Leaving from Poulsbo, Washington, we loaded up our rental car early and were on the rainy road by 8:30am. We drove down a scenic but slow and winding stretch of highway 101 to Olympia and then headed for Interstate 5. It was nice to get onto the freeway and be able to drive the speed limit after the constant stop-and-go of the previous 90 minutes.  

Jennifer & Russel burg

The trip to Portland and east toward Mt Hood went smoothly, but was rather dull, with virtually every bit of scenery veiled by gray clouds and intermittent rain showers. But once we passed Government Camp, and the completely shrouded mountain and began to head east and downhill toward Warm Springs Reservation, the sun finally came out. By the time we were passing through the reservation, the sky was blue with white puffy clouds and we were able to admire the stark and stunning topography of Oregon’s high desert. 

At the next highway junction we headed south and soon were driving through Redmond, which is always fun for anyone named Redmond, for the obvious reason. The flag-festooned streets of the charming little city—they love flags, there, and were most likely still decorated from Columbus Day—sparkled after the recent rains. And the next stop south was our destination, situated on the Deschutes River, at a—you guessed it—big bend on the riverbank. 

The Deschutes River flows through the conference hotel grounds.

There are so many parks in Bend, I won’t even try to list them all, but if you like hiking or mountain-biking, it is the place. We pulled into the Riverhouse Lodge and soon were in our room, putting things away and preparing for the first event of the three-day conference. 

Our room had a tiny balcony that looked over the racing river. The ground floor rooms all had fire pits on their patios, and one of those rooms was the gathering place for the first night introductions. The two hotel buildings straddle the Deschutes River, with the main building housing the Currents Restaurant and bar, and our building a short walk over a covered bridge across the narrow, rocky river. 

The patio and fire pit (above) was a central attraction of the room where we instructors, the conference organizers, and attendees spent the next couple of hours, noshing, drinking, and getting to know each other. 

 The next day I was up early to attend the morning speaker’s talk, and took a stroll around the gorgeous grounds. Every view of the rushing river seemed an even better shot; I took dozens of photos on that first walk before heading to the conference center, which was also in a lovely woodsy riverside setting. There were gorgeous views out the many windows, as one would expect, but also plenty of cool interior touches like this cozy fireside sitting area. 

That day I taught a class about how to pitch your book and write a query letter, held a read & critique session where a handful of people read the first few pages of their work aloud to get instantaneous feedback, then I spoke privately with a few authors who had sent in material beforehand. 

 During the one-hour lunch break, Russel and I headed out to find a healthy meal that wasn’t too far away, the hotel restaurant being already full by that time. The Natural Grocers store across the street hit the spot on both counts, and we were able to get fruit and yogurt for the next day’s breakfast as well as a couple of salads and some rye crackers. 

And, since we were already stocked up with healthful food, we stopped next door at Delish Donuts and picked up a couple of sweet treats—dessert before lunch, why not? Clearly, I needed energy for teaching my afternoon classes—one about point of view and one on how to put expository information into writing without readers noticing. 

 On Sunday, after the final speaker and the awards presentations, we headed to the hotel’s Currents restaurant with two presenter friends and their partners. The restaurant’s views are stunning, but we’d seen enough of the outdoors by then, so, after ordering an IPA from Deschutes Brewery at the bar (below), we found a fireside lounging area to chat and sip. 

Not much later, the hostess found a nearby dining table for the six of us. Earlier in the day, I had noted the presence of a big barrel-style meat smoker in front with a sign for the day’s special—smoked brisket. The meat was savory and tender; it turns out they have a special smoked meat almost every day. 

The fresh salmon dinner Russel had was gorgeous and just as yummy as it looked. 

Our friends had dined there earlier, and said that brunch was delicious, too. Apparently, they also have live music available, some Sundays. The next morning, we hit the road early again, as we had plans to visit old friends in Vancouver, Washington, just over the border from Portland, the city that we have been hearing lately is “war-torn hellhole.” 

Needless to say, Portland was calm and beautiful, its millions of trees and parks all sparkling after a brief rain shower, the only thing even slightly hellish being the lunch-hour traffic. 

 Lunch in Vancouver was delightful, not only the great conversation but the fresh and perfectly prepared meal of nearly overflowing bento boxes at a local neighborhood Japanese restaurant called Mio Sushi. Full and happy, we headed north toward Poulsbo and our “home sweet boat.”  ###

,MEDIA MONDAY / GOLDEN GATE GOUGING: A $10 TOLL TOO FAR

California already charges motorists the nation’s highest gasoline levies. Must crossing a public bridge cost double digits, too? 

OPINION. By the Editors of PillartoPost.org daily online magazine--California motorists are accustomed to being treated as rolling revenue sources. Every visit to a gasoline pump comes with a reminder that this state imposes the highest gasoline taxes and fees in the nation. 

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, California’s state gasoline taxes and fees stood at 70.9 cents per gallon at the beginning of 2026—more than twice the national state average of 33.5 cents. 

As of July 1, the state excise tax alone rose to 63.4 cents per gallon. 

Then there is the Golden Gate Bridge, where the privilege of driving across the span that connects San Francisco County to Marin County, now costs an ordinary motorist $10.25 with FasTrak, $10.50 with a license-plate account and $11.25 if the bill arrives by mail. 

The bridge has always been magnificent. The toll is highway robbery with a postcard view. 

 For a commuter making the southbound crossing five days a week for 50 working weeks, the FasTrak toll comes to $2,562.50 a year. Use the customary 260-workday calculation and the annual bite is $2,665. That is not loose change. It is a household bill—money unavailable for groceries, rent, medicine, school expenses or, fittingly enough, gasoline. 

 The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District collected $161.0 million in toll revenue during fiscal 2025 from nearly 16.9 million southbound crossings. Its defense for this seemingly highway robbery is that the money does more than paint and maintain the bridge: the district says roughly two-thirds of annual toll revenue operates and maintains the span, while about one-third supports Golden Gate bus and ferry service. 

Public transit deserves support. 

The question is why one captive class of motorists must carry so much of that burden every time it crosses a bridge that opened in 1937? The obvious reply is that an 89-year-old suspension bridge hanging over salt water costs a fortune to maintain. 

Fair enough. 

How much of a fortune? 

The district’s fiscal 2025 financial report lists $28.7 million specifically for Bridge Division maintenance. It separately reports $20.7 million for operations, $31.0 million for general and administrative expense and $15.9 million for depreciation. 

Total Bridge Division operating expense: $96.3 million. That is real money and real work—but it is still about $64.7 million less than the toll revenue collected that year. 

 And hold on to that $15.9 million depreciation figure. Depreciation is not a cash maintenance payment. It is an accounting entry that allocates the recorded cost of the bridge’s capital assets and subsequent improvements across their estimated useful lives. 

No one writes a $15.9 million depreciation check, and it does not mean the Golden Gate loses $15.9 million in market value every year. 

The charge has been explained over and over again as a legitimate financial accounting, but it should not be presented to motorists as $15.9 million spent that year painting steel, replacing equipment or tightening bolts. 

 For perspective, the entire original bridge came in at $35 million when it opened in 1937. Using the federal Consumer Price Index, that is roughly $790 million to $800 million in today’s purchasing power. 

The district’s own historical accounting says the last construction bonds were retired in 1971 after tollpayers covered $35 million in principal and nearly $39 million in interest. 

In other words, motorists paid off the bridge that built the bridge more than half a century ago. Today’s toll is financing present operations, capital work, reserves and transit—not retiring original builder Joseph Strauss’s construction debt. 

 The district’s books also show why the motorist’s bill keeps climbing: the bridge operation produced $65.3 million in operating income before non-operating items, while the bus and ferry divisions lost money. 

Calling the entire toll a bridge-maintenance charge therefore blurs the truth. 

A substantial share is a transit assessment collected at a bridge gantry. Why not put bridge care out to competitive bid? Parts of it already are. The district advertises invitations for bids and requests for proposals for construction, engineering, underwater inspection, equipment, paint and other work; even its International Orange paint is competitively purchased. Some permanent in-house capability is sensible for emergencies, continuous inspection, security and specialized work on a one-of-a-kind structure. The public should not want the cheapest unqualified contractor dangling over the Pacific with a paintbrush. 

 But that does not end the argument—it begins it. 

Every separable maintenance package should be competitively bid or benchmarked against a qualified outside price. The district should publish the fully loaded in-house cost, the outside bids, the safety qualifications and the reason for its selection. If district employees can do the job better and cheaper, prove it. If a qualified contractor can save millions without compromising safety, hire it. 

What motorists should no longer accept is a double-digit toll backed by a general assurance that maintaining the bridge is expensive. 

 Now look south, Sacramento—about 500 miles south—to the San Diego–Coronado Bridge. It opened in 1969, stretches roughly 2.1 miles across San Diego Bay and carries State Route 75. Its construction bonds were paid off in 1986. Tolls continued for another 16 years, but on June 27, 2002, the collection booths finally closed. 

Today the price in either direction is nada as in Zip. Free. 

The Coronado Bridge did not collapse when the toll disappeared. It did not become an orphan. Caltrans still maintains it, traffic still crosses it and San Diego Bay remains beneath it. The bridge is supported through the same broad public-financing machinery used for other state highways and public infrastructure. 

Free at the point of crossing does not mean free to maintain; it means the cost is not imposed as a daily penalty on the people who must use that particular link. 

 The comparison is not perfectly symmetrical. The Golden Gate district is a special district, not Caltrans, and it operates a regional bridge-and-transit network. That distinction explains the accounting. It does not excuse an ever-rising toll or relieve Sacramento of responsibility. 

State lawmakers as the voice of the citizens they represent in the Legislature can demand transparency, impose conditions on state assistance, revise governing authority and give motorists a meaningful voice in how an indispensable public crossing is financed. 

 At minimum, the Legislature and the district should freeze further toll increases, commission a truly independent audit, publish a plain-language accounting of every toll dollar and establish a heavily discounted commuter rate with an annual cap. 

Transit subsidies should be debated and funded openly across the region—not quietly loaded onto one bridge crossing because the motorists using it have no practical alternative. 

 Better yet, California should begin reducing the toll toward the San Diego model. 

If complete removal cannot happen immediately, set a public schedule for bringing the charge back to single digits, then lower it further as operating efficiencies and broader transportation funding permit. 

A toll should cover a demonstrated need, not become a permanent cash cow simply because generations of drivers have learned to surrender. 

 The Golden Gate Bridge was built to connect Californians. At $10.25 and rising, it increasingly feels as though government is charging admission to their own state. 

 San Diego proved that a great California bridge can serve the public without shaking down every passing motorist. Get it, Sacramento? 

###

 SOURCE NOTES:  

--Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, “Tolls & Payment,” rates effective July 1, 2026. 

 Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, “Annual Vehicle Crossings and Toll Revenues,” FY 2025. 

-- Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, Five-Year Toll Program materials. 

-- Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, FY 2024/2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, Supplemental Schedule of Revenues and Expenses by Division.

--Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, “Bridge Construction” and “Bonds Paid Off” historical records. 

--Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District, “How To Do Business” and Contract & Vendor Opportunities materials. U.S. Energy Information Administration, state gasoline taxes and fees as of January 1, 2026. 

--U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Historical Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U), 1937 and 2025 annual averages. 

--California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, fuel tax rates for July 2026–June 2027. 

--California CEQAnet, San Diego–Coronado Bridge Toll Removal Project; ABC 10News historical report, June 27, 2025.