Bend

Steve had a meeting in Bend this morning so we tagged along to check it out. Bend is three hours south and east of Portland, on the other side of the Cascade Mountain range. Apparently it's the place to be if you like Oregon but dislike the rain - since it's on the east side of the mountain range it gets a lot more sun and a lot less rain. I don't really understand how it works, but I think of it as the mountains eating up all the rain. It's weird because after an hour of driving east (when we reached Mt. Hood) we were in a snow blizzard.

And then another hour and your in the desert. Seriously, like tumbleweed blowing in front of your car and the roadrunner running around. Okay, no roadrunner, but no green in sight.

Then just before you reach Bend it turns into farmland. The three hour trip was kind of like a condensed road trip across the U.S. If I were a seasoned photojournalist I would have taken pictures all along the way, but all I was really fascinated with was the snow:

It was also snowing in Bend today, and it was about 26 degrees

It was fun to see the snow, but I was glad to come back to 40-something degrees, even if it's a little less sunny. And as far as Bend goes, I didn't see much of it, but it did not steal my heart.

And after such a grueling day of swimming in the hotel pool and sipping hot chocolate, Jacks was spent.