Crater Lake National Park was the final pre-planned destination of our 2026 Oregon adventure. It’s now time to make our way back east to Fort Collins, Colorado to visit Lisa’s dad and get some upgrades made to the van at a place north of Denver before heading home.

Farewell, Crater Lake

We left Crater Lake National Park retracing our way back through the north gate towards Bend, Oregon. Before that though, we had to stop one last time to admire the amazing blue lake.

The night before we found a Harvest Host that had availability for the night in Dayville, Oregon. Knowing that we would need to run the AC in the van given the hot temperatures expected there, we knew we didn’t want to arrive too early in the afternoon. Therefore, we decided to make a couple more sightseeing stops near and in Bend, Oregon.

Newberry Volcanic National Monument

Newberry Volcanic National Monument is located in the Deschutes National Forest. Its main attraction is the Newberry Crater (which is actually a caldera, since like Crater Lake, it was formed when the overlying rocks collapsed). We chose not to take the shuttle up to see the top since we really wanted to do a couple of hikes here. Our first hike was an easy, paved trail through the volcano’s lava field. Portions of this walk really reminded us of the Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho.

Our next hike 5 miles further into the monument was the Benham Falls Trail. This hike took us along the Deschutes River. The river starts serene then crosses under a cool log-jammed bridge and makes an abrupt turn when it meets the Newberry lava field. After that, the river becomes somewhat violent and eventually drops in the white waters of Benham Falls.

The Last Blockbuster Store

We stopped in Bend, Oregon on our way to Crater Lake, but somehow forgot to stop at a very iconic place. Since we were coming back through here, we just had to make a point of seeing the last Blockbuster store in the US. It earned that recognition in 2019. It still operates as a video rental store, although it contains much more Blockbuster branded merchandise that caters to tourists than its franchise stores of the past. The parking lot wasn’t big enough for Usain, so I went back to where we parked at a gas station and Lisa went inside to get some souvenirs to give as presents.

Starting the Journey Through Time

Upon leaving Bend, we turned Usain east and were no longer backtracking. From here we joined Oregon’s Scenic Byway known as the Journey Through Time. It travels through river canyons into the John Day Fossil Beds and beyond. It was a very nice road, as are most we encountered in Oregon, but the best way to describe the landscape is rugged as it follows the wild John Day River toward Dayville. Note: We found out that just about everything in this area is named for John Day, an American hunter and fur trapper known across the Pacific northwest. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to stop at any of the famous fossil sites (or units as they called) here, but hopefully we can plan that as part of a future adventure to Washington state.

Dayville Mercantile

Before landing in Dayville, Oregon we stopped in Mitchell (population 149) off of US 26 to stretch our legs. We took a walk down the main street and it looked like most of the population was at the local tavern. We popped into the general store. And boy was it general. They sold everything from groceries, to boots, and even car batteries. The aisles were narrow and packed and the store was like a maze. We enjoyed just looking around, but purchased some tortilla chips.

Our Harvest Hosts stay for the night is the Dayville Mercantile. After seeing the general store in Mitchell, we weren’t quite sure what to expect at this one in Dayville as it’s even older. The store was closed when we arrived, but Scott, the owner greeted us in the parking lot, gave us directions as where to park, and told us to come inside. We made the cats comfortable and then ventured in. Scott welcomed us and asked what we wanted to drink on the house. This was a new Harvest Host experience for us. He ended up opening a bottle of Mimosa, which he sells, and poured the 3 of us a drink. We toasted and then talked about our respective travels for the next hour or so. As we walked around the store, he would point to something and say, “take one, it’s on the house”. Part of the store was sectioned off with rocks and gems collected in Oregon while the rest of the store had groceries and eclectic items. We politely turned down most of his offerings, but he set some cheese and jerky on the counter never-the-less. I added some homemade peanut brittle and toffee that his dad had just made that day. Nothing had a price tag on it. I laid the suggested amount that Harvest Hosts recommends to spend with its patrons and he told us that we overpaid him. In general, we’ve found that the people of Oregon are very nice, but this man was that as well as very generous. As we thanked him and said good night, he invited us back for morning coffee.

One of Scott’s hobbies is to take in and adopt out cats needing a forever home. There were maybe a half dozen or so of them running around in and outside of the store along with a friendly dog named Kai. Inside, there was a kennel with two kittens. We declined his offer of coffee in the morning (neither of us are coffee drinkers), thanked him again, and handed over a donation to help care for the kittens.