bend

bend, oregon is known for its proximity to a panoply of outdoor recreation. we ventured there in search of biking trails, hiking trails and good food and found all 3.
the drive through oregon was beautiful and took us out onto some smaller highways.

our visit to bend coincided with its annual fall festival. they had a good turnout despite the crisp 5C. our friend justin recently lent me his 18-200 lens and i was enjoying the extra reach over my 18-105. initially i was unhappy with the pictures i was taking, but then i started taking pictures of kids and got some great shots.
we also heard some good music, particularly from a 3 piece band in a used bookship/wine and coffee bar. what a startling and serendipitous juxtaposition of 3 of my favourite things: books, music and wine. we took a picture of the band with kylie's cellphone. maybe i will try to get it online. we did get a good safari shot of a lion in the grass though.
and a lion on a pony!

kids and haybales make nice pictures.


while in bend i attended a trauma course at st. charles medical centre (oops, it is most likely in actuality a center) that was very engaging and useful. also they had excellent food. as i mentioned in the last post, the hospital looked like a high end hotel lobby, complete with marble fountain in the entrance and a jazz pianist in the hospital lounge. their emerg waiting room has a brick fireplace. as an aside, while in the states, it was very weird to hear radio ads touting various hospitals "we have orthopedics, gynecology and a colonoscopy suite all under one roof!"
somehow it got around the class that i was from canada, and the other docs were very eager to discuss the canadian healthcare system, as obama's healthcare reform bill is being tabled this week. most of them seemed to want a more equitable system, but all saw serious flaws in the current legislation, mosltly around the lack of liability reform (ie. if you dont limit the amount that i get sued, i can guarantee you i am going to waste the taxpayer's money). the course itself was informative and well taught, and the food was available all day!

we went on walks around bend, and i went mtn biking one day. bend has hiking, biking, skiing, kayaking and climbing right around town.
the mtns west of bend are webbed with tight singletrack trails. i didnt slow down that often to take pictures so i dont feel like these do the windy xc trail justice. the packed dirt was smooth like lethbridge riding, but with sharp pointy lava rocks in large bands across the landscape. at one point it was hailing and i had to keep going hard just to stay warm. the hottub at the inn/bed and breakfast we stayed at felt good that evening.
another flat... i put my 2.6 tire back on as soon as we got home.

the next morning i woke early to go biking again and saw this scene out our window.

no biking that day. instead we packed up the snowy 4runner and drove over the cascade mountains to sunny and 20C in portland.
here we stayed in an old school that has been converted into a boutique hotel and brewpub. a beautiful building and kylie could write on the chalkboards all she wanted.
we wandered around downtown and spent an evening in powell's books, the biggest used bookstore in the world... it's big. i could spend a few days there easily.
after a nice drive back to canada (during which we narrowly missed rearending someone) and after stopping to restock our groceries and wine cupboard at trader joes in bellingham, we returned to chilliwack to set up our house again, i worked 2 days at the hospital and fiddled with our imploding plumbing and then yesterday we set off again for victoria to visit shareen and craig for thanksgiving. tomorrow our family is doing the 8k portion of the royal victoria marathon. wish us luck!