Bend, OR: Headwaters of Deschutes (beer)

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  Bend, Oregon, United States
Friday, November 2, 2007

Brrr!!! It really is November. We woke up to ice inside the bus this morning. Allison and I have spent the last couple of days in her old college town, Bend. It really reminds me a lot of Missoula and Flagstaff. The surrounding forest and volcanic terrain is very much like Flagstaff. The first day we walked around dowtown and ate at the Deschutes pub. We then walked through the park to Mirror Pond (it didn't look like the picture on the beer bottle) and then Allison bought some old records at a music store. That night we went to the Inn of the 7th Mountain and snuck into the pool area for some free showers and hot tubbin'. Allison used to sneak in there a lot when she lived here, so she had the insiders edge. After showers we went to the movies theater and watched "Into the Wild". We had both read the book so we were interested to see how the movie would be. Two thumbs up! After the movie we camped in a picnic area just outside of town. The next day we went to the Deschutes Brewery, home of my two favorite beers, Black Butte Porter and Jubelale. We took the tour, drank some samples, and bought some goods. We also scored some old tapes at a secondhand store for the remainder of the road trip. We normally listen to music through my ipod, but the batteries always die and then we have no music. We got such classics as the Bangles, Madonna, Duran Duran, and Bel Biv Devoe to name a few. Last night we camped out of town at a state park. And like I said, this morning we woke up to ice. But we were both warm under our pile o' blankets. This morning we climbed Pilot Butte in the center of town, and checked out the surrounding peaks. Today we're hitting the road again and heading east toward Idaho on our way back home.
Silas

I've been so excited to get to Bend- I lived here for 3 years before moving to Missoula and I loved it. I didn't want to leave, but after spending 3 years at a 2 year school, I figured it was time. When I visited Missoula and UM before deciding to transfer there it reminded me of Bend right away, and I was hooked! I've been really looking forward to coming here with Silas so I could show him around and visit some of my old hang-outs. And of course, we both LOVE Deschutes beer!!
The first day we stopped at the Lava Cast Forest on our way into Bend. It's this area that used to be a forest then was coverd with lava when the Newberry Volcano errupted leaving casts of the tree trunks in the lava bed. It was cool, but not quite as impressive as I'd remembered it from when I was a kid. I'm not sure if the casts just seemed bigger back then because I was smaller, or if they might have been broken down over time. But either way, it was a nice little walk through the area.
Our first stop when we got to Bend was the Deschutes Brewery Pub. There are quite a few beers that they make that are only available at ther pub, so of course we both tried one- Green Lakes Organic Ale for Silas and Dominic's Dominator Stout for me. Yum! We both had burgers too, which we later learned (on the brewery tour) come from cows at a farm in Central Oregon that are fed the spent barley used in brewing the beer! Lucky cows!
Hot tubbing that night was SO nice. I was happy to see that the pools and hot tubs at the Inn of the Seventh Mountain were as accesable as ever! We both got free showers too, so that was an added bonus.
The next day we got up and headed into town for some coffee at Newport Market- this cool little market near the college. After we were sufficently caffienated, we headed to the Deschutes Brewery to look around the gift shop and sample some beer. We both found lots of stuff we wanted, but were able to restrain ourselves and only buy one thing each. We also found out the times of their tours and decided to come back later for samples and a tour. While we were waiting we headed to my old favorite thrift store- St. Vincent de Paul. I was so happy to see that it was still there- so many of the places that I used to like in Bend aren't here anymore. We've been kind of looking for used tapes our whole trip, and we finally found the motherload- 5 cent tapes!!! We found tons of good stuff and ended up getting 14!! I guess our self control from earlier was no longer with us!
We had lunch downtown and then headed back to the brewery for the tour. It was really interesting, not just because I love the beer, but also because I started brewing my own beer last winter and the process is pretty much the same- only on a much larger scale. They let you sample 3 beers in the gift shop/taproom area, and then you can take one with you on the tour- we both got 'Hop Trip' one of their newer beers that's only available on tap and in 22oz. bottles. I'm not sure if you can buy it in Montana- we'd never seen it before. But it's really good- very similar to Mirror Pond.
We spent last night at Tumalo State Park just outside of Bend and it was a COLD one! Definitely the coldest so far. Every window in the bus was covered with a layer of ice. I'm talking the inside of the windows, not the outside. Brr!!
We headed back to Bend for coffee and a snack before hiking up Pilot Butte. From the top we were finally able to see Black Butte- I really wanted Silas to get to see it since Black Butte Porter is his favorite beer.
As soon as we're done with this entry we're heading out of town...hopefully to somewhere that's not so cold at night!
Allison

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Silas in lava cast	Silas at Deschutes brew pub	Silas samples the waters of Mirror Pond	Hot tubbin' at the 7th Mountain
Silas w/ Black Butte	Silas on Pilot Butte	Allison on Pilot Butte

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