Beautiful, Bountiful Bend

Jill's Journal: Here’s a view of the Three Sisters: South Sister, Middle Sister, and North Sister. We’ve become so fond of the exquisite Cascade Mountains over the past month or two. Mt. Bachelor, Mt. Jefferson, and even Mt. Hood are all within sight from Bend, as are a host of other, smaller mountains whose names we don’t know.

We’ve been sooo enjoying this town that I’m behind on blogging! Our initial impression of Bend is that it’s a very young town, an extremely casual town, and, most of all, an outdoor playground. If you have a recreational pastime, whether it’s skiing, whitewater rafting, kayaking, hiking, fishing, rock climbing, mountain biking, snowboarding, spelunking, golfing, or just about anything else you can think of, it’s here. This town is all about outdoor recreation and certainly a gateway to all things outdoorsy.

There are around 80,000 residents in Bend. One of the things that makes this town unique is its dual environment. It’s truly high desert meets mountain pine forest. This is where the Ponderosa pines from the higher elevations (Bend is at 3,600 feet) transition into the semi-arid sagebrush steppe. Imagine walking among pine trees while on desert floor. So very bizarre, so very fascinating, so very cool.

Bend was originally named “Farewell Bend,” which pioneers called the spot along the Deschutes River that could be forded. Although there were random ranches here and there, it wasn’t until 1900 that a settlement began in the same area. The U.S. Postal Service later shortened the name of the settlement to just “Bend.” In 1904, the population was 300 souls. There were 5,400 by 1920 and just over 20,000 as recently as 1990. The town has quadrupled in size in the two decades since.

More tomorrow on our adventures the last two days, including the girls interacting with a rattlesnake today! They are clearly braver than their mama.