Visit Bend Visitors Guide Visit Bend 2009 Visitors Guide : Cover
THE OFFICIAL VISIT OR GUIDE VISIT BEND O RE GO N 365 D AYS OF ADVEN V VENTURE RECREATION :: ARTS & CULTURE :: SHOPPING :: DINING
365 Days Of Adventure
We could tell you that Bend is the mountain getaway that’s got it all. We could tell you that Bend is America’s favorite playground with a mindboggling abundance of worldclass outdoor recreation, an inspiring mix of arts and culture, a municipality of the best microbrews, a culinary cut above the rest and just one of the coolest places to spend some time. We could tell you all that, but don’t just take our word for it—listen to what the nation’s top media are saying about Bend . . .
“Whoever visits Bend, moves to Bend, people warned me. So frequently, in fact, that I took it to be the o cial motto of this always sunny central Oregon playground – a blessedly bipolar high-desert home base, where you can trail run along the rushing Deschutes River in the morning and hit the snowy slopes of Mt. Bachelor in the afternoon. My kind of town…Bend remains a decidedly unpretentious community, where folks prefer moonlight snowshoes over movies, and unfussy hotel rooms run about $100 a night.”
From the cafes and bistros in the heart of downtown to the resorts on the outskirts of town, Bend area chefs use a special ingredient that makes their creations taste even better on a warm summer evening. It’s called fresh air.
“People describe Bend – with its easy access to an array of outdoor activities, including skiing, biking, white-water rafting and kayaking, hiking, golf and world-class y- shing – as ‘the new Boulder,’ a reference to Colorado’s athletic mecca. Mount Bachelor, one of the Northwest’s top ski resorts, is just 22 miles from downtown, and the city is surrounded by volcanic peaks. Benders take the outdoors – and their beer – seriously, with 71 parks, 48 miles of in-town trails and six microbreweries.”
“Every place has its season – when living there makes you feel blessed.
In Bend, one of the country’s fastestgrowing cities, the showcase season happens to be, well, all of them. Take a midsummer night. It’s light until nearly 9:30 pm, plenty of time to lob Wooly Buggers into crisp holes on the Deschutes River after work or hop on a bike to catch Beck at the amphitheater. You can ski through May and mountain bike all year and 10,000-foot volcanoes dominate the skyline. And there’s a lot of good beer: six breweries for 80,000 people, plus swanky restaurants, art walks, and lm festivals.”
A lot of people claim that sitting in a canoe on Sparks Lake is their favorite place to be in Central Oregon. What’s their second-favorite place? Sitting right next to it, of course.
“There are plenty of great mountain bike towns in America, but most have a downside…That brings us to our pick for the best mountain biking town in America. A drum roll, please. Bend, Oregon. The place was originally named Farewell Bend, because early travelers were so bummed to continue their trip west. All the things that attracted those early pioneers are what attract mountain bikers today. Don’t believe us? We’ve got thirty- ve reasons to back up our claim that Bend is the best mountain biking town in America.”
“Quietly lurking in the middle of Oregon, the town of Bend is a Boulder, Colorado, in the making.
It is a place of unabashed outdoor worship. Residents and vacationers come to Bend because they like to ski, bike, golf, climb, kayak, sh, hike – and some will knock all those o in just one week. A classic Bend summer evening rolls in with a fuchsia-heavy, orangetinged sunset that plunges into deep purples framed by clusters of Lodgepole pine and Douglas r trees, with Mount Bachelor and the western Cascades silhouetted in the distance.”
Monkey Face at world-famous Smith Rock State Park boasts fi ve routes that are 5.12a or higher.
And one that’s rated totally off the charts.
“If you’re happiest pedaling, casting or swinging your clubs, consider Bend your primary destination on the West Coast, if not North America.
How active is this town? As I spent an hour shing just 10 minutes from town at Meadow Flats, a mild turn in the often cantankerous Deschutes River, at least a dozen mountain bikers, ve runners and several hikers passed between me and the four people rapelling o the rock face 80 feet away...I quickly learn that, unlike most of us, Bendites don’t live for the weekend because they incorporate weekend activities ( shing, cycling, etc.) into their daily lives.”
“For the ambitious residents of Central Oregon, winter does not liken to hibernation. Oregon’s heartland, located between the base of the Cascade Range and the expansive high desert, spreads out around the upscale city of Bend, epitomizing loveliness and outdoor opportunities. In the summer, locals pursue a frenzied excess of biking, hiking, golf and boating. When the snow ies, those endeavors simply segue into a similarly hyperactive pursuit of skiing, snowshoeing and sledding. Don’t be surprised if you nd yourself pursuing the region’s truly most arduous activity – keeping up with the locals.”
After years of analysis, geologists have confi rmed that the Deschutes River Canyon is a rare volcanic phenomenon still in the making. After years of analysis, psychologists have also confi rmed that kayaker Jeff Blick is a certifi ed nutcase in the making.
“A white winter and plenty of ways to enjoy it are two things, like many aspects of life around here, that haven’t changed in the 50 years that Bachelor has been open…It’s no surprise that, for a while, one person was moving to Bend every two hours. The great in ux has slowed, but the reason most of them came remains: the bounty of a Paci c Northwest winter…I let Ralph go rst and he disappears in a cloud of snow. It’s the end of the day and we’re skiing untracked lines right to the parking lot. No need to pinch myself. The rst face shot felt real enough.”
“With a proliferation of ne-dining restaurants, day spas, art galleries, and boutiques, the former mill town has attained a stellar reputation as one of the West’s vacation hot spots – a four-season, multisport haven where local diehards like to brag about being able to ski 25,000 vertical feet on Mount Bachelor before lunch and then go gol ng or mountain biking in the afternoon. Outdoor retailer REI anchors the Old Mill District, a cosmopolitan mixed-use development with restaurants, shops, galleries, and the 96-room AmeriTel Inn, whose stone-and timbered lobby feels like the great room of a grand mountain lodge.”
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