Bend Highlights

Bend was a great stopover for our trip, even though we never considered it as a place to resettle - not enough work opportunities. It is a popular place for people from Portland to have second homes, and it is easy to see why. The town is named for being a bend in the Deschutes River, which runs right next to the downtown.


There is a wonderful city park along the town side of the river, and the night we were there it was full of families walking and playing. The weather in Bend is much sunnier than Portland, though we have had sunshine our whole visit in the Northwest - veeerrrry deceptive! We used to live in Seattle, so we know what it really like here (it's been known to rain occasionally). But inland, past the Cascades, it is dry and sunny, and Bend is a friendly town set in that nice climate. This is another shot of the Deschutes River:

The downtown is cute and has good restaurants and shops. We went to a brew pub and I was able to get a beer sampler, one of my favorite things to do.

Bend has been especially hard hit by the recession, which is not unusual for towns populated with second homes. All of Oregon is hard hit; the unemployment rate is second only to Michigan, or so we hear. Something to consider as we weigh the possibility of moving here.