Bend 16 September 2019 : Caspar Institute

It's raining right now, but we managed a lovely three mile walk to Old Town and back, having bought tomorrow's breakfast. We are now waiting the rain out so's we can go to Backporch Coffee.

First up, a walk across the pedestrian bridge from our side to the east side; looking back, there just upstream, is our house, invisible through the trees.

Most of our walk was over riverside parks or through quiet neighborhoods with small but sweet houses. A few for sale, in case you want to live in this lovely, self-aware, thoughtful inland community. (I don't, but only 'cause I live in one of those with ocean!)

Bend is a town with a sense of humor as well as a sense of perspective, and a firm grasp on the future: it is exploding! in size, and struggling to keep up with the pressures of planning. But it is preserving the parks around Mirror Pond and its Old Town with vigor, and the response of the people – this is clearly a walking place – is appreciative.

Along the park that borders Mirror Pond, the bend in the river that gives the city its name, are elegant yet not monstrous, of another era. In the upper left photo, you can barely pick out the tree house with the tree growing through it ...but it's there. Bottom image, the elderly gentleman with the lawn mower and the earplugs mowing his own lawn has probably lived there, and mowed that lawn, for decades. (While he was mowing, his lady was out back potting plants.) And the sculptor of swans didn't take the easy route (making a heart).

It must be said that there are a lot of Uhmurricun Flags.

We walked a couple of blocks to Backporch Coffee Roasters, the local manifestation of the excellent, socially conscious culture of coffee that dominates the Northwest (and that is completely, laughably, represented internationally by Starbucks, the coffee that friends don't let friends drink.

Looking for a little more walk, we took the Deschutes River Trail down past the house next door and went over to watch the surfers we can see from our front windows close up. Several of them were just learning, wiping out, and plunging into what must be cold, cold water, and swimming for it in the runout below the rapids.

And I have a question for you Bendians: is there such a shortage of actual rocks that you have to hire a sculptor to make stainless steel rocks for a civic sculpture?

We're off soon for what we are promised will be a memorable dinner at Tim Garling's Jackalope Grill. Are great expectations always a prelude to a letdown?

Well, at least not in this case. Started with a lovely French 4% cider, Salt Spring Island Mussels in exactly the right kind of broth, and a lovely salad of warm Figs, Blue Cheese, Walnuts, and Balsamic Vinegar over local Butter Lettuce. The chef (Tim Garling?) split the main course of crispy skinned Duck over Cherry Sauce with creamy mashed Potatoes and roasted Carrots, Turnips, and steamed Broccoli. We couldn't resist the dessert: light Lemon Curd with fresh Berries. Well served, delightful ambiance, deservedly #1 in Bend.