Bend Sucks, Drink Beer Outside

What feels like a lifetime ago, I worked for Facebook on a big data center project in Central Oregon. It was an interesting experience, in that it taught me what “riparian” means, but more importantly it gave me a chance to spend lots of time in and around Bend, Oregon.

Bend used to be called Farewell Bend, after a fording point in the river used by trail migrants. I like this tidbit, because now the place is so darn charming you can find cars in town with bumper stickers that say “Bend Sucks, Don't Move Here.”

Among the several reasons to like Bend is its density of craft breweries, 22 to be exact, in a town of less than 100,000 people. One of my favorite breweries, Deschutes, is based here, so we went on a tour of the facility and got to munch on barley and sample tasty beverages.

Another brewery in town, 10 Barrel, hints at the other major attraction of Bend when they stamp “Drink Beer Outside” on all their cans: outdoor fun and games. Within thirty minutes of town you have mountain biking, skiing, hiking, kayaking, trail running, and twenty other activities I can't imagine a sane person doing.

We headed to Bend's excellent indoor climbing gym to wait out a spell of nasty weather. Earlier this year Zeynep got her first taste of bouldering in İstanbul and loved it, and this was her first time trying longer routes roped into a harness. She is, no surprise, a fast learner.

We also got a chance to traipse around Smith Rock, an amazing state park that is also one of the more famous rock climbing crags in the US. We enjoyed a short but strenuous hike around the main features while all around us slightly crazier people dangled by their fingertips from slightly too far off the ground.

Two of our nights here were spent at a tiny hipster RV park called The Camp, which is complete with vintage Airstreams you can rent by the night. We didn't feel quite hipster enough on the natural, so we put up our hipster string lights for the occasion.

Tonight we're staying at Brasada Ranch to enjoy long hot showers and the views of the high desert from the hot tub. Tomorrow, we say farewell (for now) to Bend, and head to Crater Lake.