Did Santa miss the mark this year? Gifts every Bend-ite will love!

Didn’t get everything you wanted for Christmas? Not to worry. Bend has some great local shops with exciting merchandise to make your season merry and bright. Here are just a few of the options.

For the beer connoisseur: Options abound for this individual. Pick up a growler from Drink Tanks for your own “personal keg.” Then grab them a Silipint to go with: an eco-friendly silicone pint or shot glass that is unbreakable and can withstand temperatures from -150°F to 600°F. Still not sold? Get them some bike “swag” from Worthy Brewing, or even some “Bathe with a Dirty Girl” Beer Soap by LeCol’s Soap Bar.

Speaking of biking: Bend has an abundance of paraphernalia for the bike enthusiast on your list. Start small with a TrailRag, a bandana that has a map of Phil’s Trail, the River Trail or other local systems. How about a bike bell with the BEND logo, or a spoke-bracelet? Or go big and call Cog Wild at 866-610-4822 to order a fully customizable gift certificate for any Cog Wild bike tour in Central Oregon, from day trips to week-long adventures.

For the ladies: Bend isn’t only about beer and the outdoors. Pamper your woman with a punch card to one of our amazing yoga studios, like Groove Yoga or Namaspa. Treat them to a spa day at Jinsei Spa, Anjou Spa & Salon, or Spa W. Top it off with some Mt. Bachelor Pine Soap from Bend Soap Company or a Bend Logo Vance Family Soy Candle.

For the kids: Leapin’ Lizards Toy Store is the go-to for all things kid-worthy. Stop by Powell’s Sweet Shoppe or Goodie’s for some special treats and stocking stuffers.

For the dogs: Pick up some delicious and nutritious Dawg Grog at Boneyard Brewery so that your dog can enjoy great (non-alcoholic) beer along with you. Or check out the upcycled gear from Spits Adventure Wear in Bend and online, that offers reflective dog leashes and collars made from old bike materials (the collar even has a bottle opener on it).

Or go used: Find great deals on second-hand gear and apparel at Repeat Performance, Gear Peddler, Cowgirl Cash or Rescue Moderne Consignment. You never know!

5 must-do activities in Central Oregon over the holidays

There’s nothing better than being in Bend during the holidays. Each day offers a host of wintertime shenanigans. Here are our top five picks for making the most of your time off.

1) Hit the Slopes at Mt. Bachelor! More lifts and runs are scheduled to open the day after Thanksgiving with quite a bit of manmade snow until Mother Nature is expected take over later on the weekend. So keep doing that snow dance and follow the snow report so that you can get the first tracks of the season!

2) Work up your Turkey Day appetite with a holiday run! Bend has no less than three awesome organized runs Thanksgiving morning alone. The Central Oregon Thanksgiving Classic offers a 5k, 10k, and family friendly Gobbler Walk. If you like pie, try out the I Like Pie Thanksgiving Day Run/Walk that includes a baking contest. Or participate in the 4th Annual Bend Turkey Trot in NorthWest Crossing. Then, stay in shape and earn your Christmas cookies in the Jingle Bell Run/Walk that precedes the annual Christmas Parade, December 7 in Downtown Bend.

3) Do some serious holiday shopping at the Old Mill District. It features popular stores like Victoria’s Secret, Banana Republic, Bath & Body Works, Zumiez, REI and more. Check out these Black Friday Specials to get you started. But if you need more help finding the perfect gift for little Sophie besides a pony, Santa will arrive via helicopter around 10 am to begin his Santaland duties. They’ve also got carriage rides, carolers, and kids’ activities to make the season bright. If you want some more cute, quirky, local gifts, hit up Small Business Saturday in Downtown Bend. They’ll have some great deals at popular stores like Hot Box Betty, Local Joe, and Tres Jolie.

4) The Christmas Tree Lighting has been a tradition in Bend for years. But this year we’re doing something a little different. Crews just planted a brand new tree in a more spacious locale at the top of Drake Park by Brooks Street and Franklin Ave. The festivities get underway at 6pm on Saturday, November 30. There will be caroling and free samples from Luv’s Donuts, and Santa will light the tree at 6:45 pm.

5) Make a night out of a show at the Tower Theater. The Tower has a great line-up for the holiday season that includes “A Charlie Brown Christmas” with pianist David Benoit, flamenco guitarist Todd Haaby, and “Take 6” a cappella group. Also, don’t forget your tickets for The Central Oregon School of Ballet’s Nutcracker Suite December 7-8 at the Bend High School auditorium, the High Desert Chamber Annual Music Gala at Broken Top Club, and Jazz Night at the Oxford Hotel.

Get Cultured at the Tower Theater

As a child growing up in Bend, my little sister and I would always groan every time my dad announced that we were all going to the Tower. It didn’t have a big screen and special effects like they have at Regal Cinemas. All the plays, concerts, and movies they showed there were often things I had never heard of. And what’s more, it seemed like we were always the only “young folks” around for miles.

But the thing was, I secretly liked going to the Tower. There was just something about it that made going out really something special. Maybe it was the bright white lights at the entryway. It could have been the iconic tower itself that watches over downtown Bend from 40 feet up. Or maybe it was the vintage glamour of the old beautifully renovated theater that made it so magical.

The building was originally built in 1940 and thrived as a cinema and performing arts stage. It closed when it couldn’t keep up with multi-screen theaters until efforts to renovate and reopen the building were finally successful in 2004. It now features state-of-the-art sound and lighting equipment and a video projection system.

Since the reopening, the Tower Theater has been a cultural and historical hub of Bend as the home of everything from the Bend Film Festival and Broadway reproductions to Chinese acrobats and Grammy-winning artists. Highlights of my own experiences at the Tower include The Producers, KT Tunstall, Blind Pilot, and most recently, Spamalot—all shows that are sure to entertain audiences of all ages.

I have my dad to thank for keeping me cultured. And even though you can definitely spend a fortune to get the theater experience in Portland, the Tower offers many popular shows and artists at half the price. So make a night out of an event at the Tower Theater. It is truly a gem in our town!

Top 5 sunrises/sunsets of the summer

I’ve never been an early riser. But when work required me to get up before the crack of dawn on multiple occasions this summer, I realized that sunrises in Bend definitely made waking up that early—and all those extra cups of coffee—completely worth it. So I started doing it on my own more often. Below are the top 5 sunrises and sunsets in Bend that I had the pleasure of viewing this summer. Enjoy!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. Saying goodnight to the city on Pilot Butte

Pilot Butte State Park is a place every Bendite and visitor should experience at least once a year. There is a road to the top, which makes it an easy detour for you to grab a burger and blackberry shake from Pilot Butte Drive in and go enjoy the sunset over the city, or to simply take a break from your daily routine and breathe in the 360-degree view. There are also hiking trails that are roughly a mile to the top, so you can squeeze in a workout with some killer views in under an hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. Bend evenings at Les Schwab Amphitheater

Some of my favorite summer memories are going to concerts at the Les Schwab Amphitheater at the Old Mill. Grabbing some dinner and listening to great music with good company by a gorgeous river with the Cascade Range in the background… need I say more? I guess you could add a craft beer in there, too. This particular sunset was observed while listening to Sigur Ros Memorial Day weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3. An epic morning on Tam MacArthur Rim

This one was so spectacular it warrants more than one photo. A couple coworkers and I decided to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to make it up the 5.4 miles to the top of the Tam MacArthur Rim trail for one of the most epic sunrises I have ever seen. I watched as the first rays of sunlight hit the peaks of Broken Top and the Three Sisters before it flooded the entire Deschutes National Forest and beyond. The hike is relatively short for the treat you get at the top—and we even made it back in time for work.

 

 

The rite of passage for every Central Oregonian

Climbing South Sister is like a rite of passage for every Central Oregonian. And since I’ve lived here for 20 years now, I’m kind of ashamed that didn’t make it up there until last summer when some buddies and I finally synchronized our work schedules so that we could set a date for the excursion.

Besides hiking up Bachelor, South Sister would be my first real mountain. On the one hand, I was nervous because I had never hiked anything close to 12 miles with 5000 feet of elevation gain before. I had also heard the search and rescue stories in the Cascades that inevitably happen every year. But I was more excited, because it was a new challenge and the perfect beginner mountain climb. What’s more, the view at the tippy top promised to be spectacular.

At 10,358 feet, South is the third highest peak in Oregon. It’s got glaciers and pools and a view of the Cascade peaks, evergreen forests, and alpine lakes as good as any other. And it’s nontechnical, so any reasonably fit hiker can hike it in a day. On a sunny Saturday in August, as many as 300 hikers may reach the top.

I packed up the 10 essentials, plenty of food and water, sunscreen, my down jacket for the summit, and my camera, and we hit the trail before 7 a.m. in order to beat the summer traffic on the hill and in the parking area–and the heat. The first couple of miles were steep and they hit me pretty hard, but after awhile we got into the swing of things and I felt like I could go all day, just putting one foot in front of the other. Apart from the summit, the hike itself is a sight for sore eyes (and legs). There are plenty of viewpoints along the way, including awesome proximity to the backside of Broken Top and the green depths of Morraine lake, where many hikers choose to stay if they decide to backpack instead of doing it in a day. My favorite place was the electric blue glacial pool near the top, where we stopped for a snack and dipped our toes in the freezing snow melt.

 
After that comes the not-so-good-part: about a half mile of scree awaits before you can reach the top–that’s climber’s lingo for really loose terrain that makes it feel like for every step you take forward, you are falling two steps back. It’s no walk in the park, but it’s not very often that you find a mountain that you can virtually just walk up.

Reaching the summit was one of the most surreal experiences of my life. Middle and North Sisters were so close that it seemed as if I was looking at them through a microscope. Bachelor was looking handsome as ever, and I could see for miles beyond that, all the way to Mt. Shasta. This moment is what living in Central Oregon is all about–and we hadn’t even gotten to the fun part yet.

We went in late July, and there was still plenty of snow covering the bowls of the mountain. So, rather than painstakingly making our way down until our poor knees could take it no more, we plopped down on our shells, vests, space blankets, whatever we could find, and slid all the way down the mountain. And we could not stop smiling.

The best time of year to go is late summer or early fall (sidenote: that’s right now!) The average hiker should plan for an 8-10 hour day. And the best part is, the trailhead is only 25 minutes up the road from PointsWest. So you can mark this peak off your checklist and be home just in time for dinner. And finally, check out our Facebook for more great things to do in Central Oregon like these!