The Cascade Mountains divide Oregon into a Westside and an Eastside. The Westside is the wet side with all the green, thick forests. This is the rainy Oregon that most people know about. The Eastside is in the rain shadow of the Cascades and as a result is much dryer. Much of Central and Eastern Oregon are dry high desert and dry inland forests.

Redmond is in Central Oregon, about 30 miles east of the Cascade Mountains. It has a population of about 25,000 people. Expect dry, sunny weather in the summer. Daytime temperatures should be in the 80's to mid 90's (but it is a dry heat). As the sun goes down the temperature will normally drop quickly, and can reach the 40's at night. The elevation is 3100'. The vegetation around the town is mostly Juniper trees and Sagebrush. Seven mountains over 10,000' in elevation are visible from the fairgrounds with several shorter white capped peaks visible as well.

About 9 miles drive north of Redmond is Smith Rocks State Park. This is a world famous rock climbing area. It offers everything from novice to advanced climbing. Some of the faces are several hundred feet high. The parking area is on a hill across the river from the climbing cliffs, which makes for some really good viewing of climbers and the mountain. It is a really beautiful area and worth a visit from the Rally grounds. Several movies have used the area around the park including Rooster Cogburn and The Postman. You don't need to be a rock climber to enjoy the park as there are several miles of hiking trails in the area. Choose from flat walks along the Crooked River to climbs to the top of the mountain, Or a long loop trail that does both. From the rally site, go to Highway 97 and go north to the town of Terrebonne, about 9 miles. In the middle of Terrebonne will be State Park sign and a series of turns, all marked, to the park about 2 miles away. Just before the park is a small store that sells Huckleberry ice cream, highly recommended.

Going back to Terrebonne, turn north on HWY 97 for a few miles to another scenic spot: Peter Skeen Ogden State Wayside. Park the bike and walk across the grassy picnic area to the gorge of the Crooked River. It's 300' straight down.

Taking HWY 97 about 10 miles further north from Terrebonne, follow the signs through Culver to the Cove Palisades State Park. This is an area of Lake Billy Chinook Reservoir that has some spectacular columnar basalt formations. This is a nice area to have a picnic lunch or go swimming in the lake. Boat rentals are available as well.

Another State Park near Redmond is Cline Falls State Park. From the fairgrounds go to Hwy 97, go north to Redmond and take the left turn to HWY 126. The park is 4 miles west of town. This is a picnic park and right on the Deschutes River. There are some swimming spots along the river here.

 

Redmond itself has some good restaurants. The Brickhouse Steak & Seafood is a bit upscale. Chloe's New American Cuisine is a very nice place and reasonable. For Mexican food try Diego's, a new and interesting place. For Italian there is Sully's, a long time Redmond Restaurant. Chan's Chinese is in Redmond and Bend.

For standard American food, the Black Bear Dinner and Country Nook are available. All of these restaurants in downtown Redmond are located on the one-way streets going north and south, the old HWY 97. About a 3 wood shot from the fairgrounds is the Juniper Golf Club. The restaurant is nice and open to the public, as is the golf course. Of course there are the usual fast food chains throughout town.

There are at least 10 coffee kiosks around town keeping up a Northwest tradition of really good coffee.

There are some really good motorcycle rides in the area outside of Redmond. The roads around and through the Cascades range are simply spectacular. The rides up through the Ochoco Mountains are well worth the trip. There are thousands of miles of gravel roads in the forests and high desert. The Oregon Coast is only 3.5 hours away.

Mountains, valleys, forests, high desert, rivers and canyons, take your pick. You can't go wrong.