Bend, Oregon. We Could Live Here

We had planned to go from Coeur d’Alene and stay at a nice little winery in Kennewick, Washington. The weather didn’t agree. It was to be 105 degrees there and our RV air conditioning only works when we are plugged into a 30 amp outlet. There are none at the winery. So, Lisa not-so-reluctantly called our hotel in Bend and scheduled another night. We made the 7 1/2 hour drive to Bend and happily checked into a beautiful boutique hotel called the Oxford Inn.

Lisa found the Oxford Inn on an app called Bring Fido. We, of course, needed a place that allowed dogs. Well, the Oxford Inn ranked in the nation’s top 10 dog friendly hotels so we were particularly excited to stay there. It also know for it’s eco-chic approach to Inn keeping. Look it up. The hotel staff had put out two dog beds, a water bowl, two travel food bowls for us to keep, and the ever necessary eco-friendly poop bags. The dogs were thrilled. We can’t recommend it highly enough.

As we checked in, our close friends, Mike and Mary Frandsen, were waiting for us at a cafe across the street. When we told them that we were finishing up our trip in Bend, they offered to meet us there. Their dog Mojo and our dog Sophie are best of friends. Ralphie, not so much. But, he tolerates them both.

We were last together in Bend in 2018 when we met Mike along with Chris Dittmore, Matt Swinnerton, and Ed Brown who were on a bike ride from Canada to Mexico. A group of us thought that Bend, a place we hadn’t been to prior, would be a fantastic place to meet them. Bend did not disappoint. It was a great time and we sent them off on the rest of their trip with enthusiasm, although our primary contribution was toasting them with beer.

After we checked into our hotel and cleaned up, we met Mike and Mary for our traditional post-drive beer. This was particularly appropriate in Bend, the center of the craft beer universe. After two weeks on the road it was great to spend time with two of our closest friends. Mary also brought along four of our other close friends in, well, flat form. It’s become somewhat a custom of ours to bring flat friends along since Chris Dittmore had a bike accident and he and Brenda (his wife) couldn’t make our planned trip to Zion National park. We also took them to dinner. They didn’t get to drink any of our delicious Oregon Pinot Noir.

Bend, a city of about 100,000 people, is in Central Oregon, sitting along the Deschutes River. It is surrounded by beautiful mountains, heavily wooded forests and miles of hiking and biking trails. The townspeople are fit, highly educated, and love outdoor activities. Heck, there’s even a Bend pledge that makes you promise to leave Bend better than you found it. We hope we did.

We spent the next two days in Bend hiking to waterfalls, drinking local beer, eating nice dinners and walking along the river. This town is beautiful and Lisa and I both felt like we could live here. Lisa even took a photo of a house on the river. I reminded her that the grandchildren would live 8 hours away (rather than 5 minutes). She quickly changed her mind.

As we said goodbye to Mike and Mary and prepared to leave Bend on our way back to Danville, Lisa and I felt we found the Bend Pledge’s random episodes of magic. We will most certainly be back. Even Ralphie behaved well enough to be invited back (maybe).