Tag: Bend

  • The Pine Tavern

    When it comes to dining in Bend, Oregon, few places compare to The Pine Tavern. Located in Downtown Bend, just off Mirror Pond and the Deschutes River, the Pine Tavern Restaurant is one of the signature establishments of this town and one of the best places to eat, period.

    Good food, good drinks and good service. I’ve never had a bad meal there. And inside is one of the most unique features you’ll find anywhere around here: the restaurant is built around a large, live ponderosa pine tree that is the centerpiece of the dining area; the trunk dominates the room and rises through the ceiling with the top of the tree high above the building. Windows in the ceiling afford the full view. It’s quite amazing.

    If you happen to be visiting Bend, you should definitely consider having dinner at the Pine Tavern a requirement. Even my in-laws, who are notoriously picky about what and where they can eat, love the place and have at least one meal there every trip. On the other hand, if you live in Bend and haven’t been, then I’m seriously thinking about revoking your Bend card.

  • Bend Gridlock

    Bend made the national headlines last week (CNN: Rush minute becomes rush hour) because it’s the largest city in the west without a public transit system. And we’re not going to get one anytime soon, unfortunately. From the CNN article:

    Public transportation advocates in the city are up against a steadfast car culture reinforced by the influx of Californians, plus a wealthy population that probably wouldn’t ride the bus even if one existed.

    “If they are getting around town in their Lexus, they are not too concerned about the next bus stop,” said Brian Shetterly, the town’s chief planner.

    All too true. Bend’s traffic is one of the big drawbacks to living here; I’ve watched it steadily get worse over the last decade, as more people have moved into the area but the infrastructure hasn’t scaled accordingly. I sometimes think Bend is a city with a small town mentality: people don’t want to accept that they are living in a city and therefore can’t or won’t deal with the issues that growth inevitably brings—like gridlock. Classic denial: “Hey, we live in a small town, we can’t possibly have traffic problems that need fixing.”

    I’d love it if Bend got a mass transit system, I’ve thought we’ve needed one for years. I’d ride a bus, if one was available, and I think a lot of other people would, too, despite the picture the article paints. Here’s a hint: Not everyone who lives here is wealthy and tools around in a Lexus.

    They wouldn’t need to start big, at first: maybe two or three routes in Bend, covering downtown, west up to the college, north to the malls and back down east along 27th and Knott Road, swinging south and back up Country Club maybe. Then a route to Redmond, maybe Sisters, and one to Sunriver/Lapine, but those extended routes could come later.

    Oh, well. It’s nice to dream.

  • Bend WinterFest

    The Bend WinterFest is coming up in a little over a week, from February 5th through the 8th. Just thought I’d give it a mention for anyone looking for something to do in Bend next weekend.

    Me? No, I probably won’t attend. Not exactly a ringing endorsement, I know. I think Bend now has festivals for every season plus a few extra thrown in for good measure; the SummerFest used to be pretty decent, when they had a good beer garden and didn’t limit where you could take your beer (or wine), but when they beer garden selection got much more limited and they wouldn’t let you out of the fenced area (which caused much problems for those of us who had young kids who weren’t allowed inside the fence but had already purchased a beer before finding out you couldn’t leave), the SummerFest itself became a lot less attractive.

    At any rate, for me it’s just too damn cold to be out wandering around Downtown Bend or the Old Mill District watching ice carving or fireworks. But if you’re interested in going, more power to you.

  • BendBuzz

    My friend/business partner and I are launching several new websites, and I’m pointing to one here: BendBuzz. He’s taking the lead on this one, but I’m totally behind it. It’s a weblog-type site devoted to Bend and Central Oregon—not necessarily news per se (which Bend.com has pretty well covered), but for anything we can think of. Kind of like Slashdot for Bend. Check it out. It’s brand new, so there’s not much content to see yet, but that’ll change quickly. Also, I encourage anyone local to Bend to head over and feel free to contribute. We’re open to just about anything.

  • Eidetic & Sony Bend

    Herewith the first part of an online detective story, with interesting results. If you’re interested in any of the following: Infocom, the Sony PlayStation, or video game companies in Bend, Oregon—then you’ll probably enjoy this story. Read on. (more…)

  • Sunrise

    Central Oregon SunriseWe had the most beautiful sunrise this morning, so I went out and snapped a picture of it. Smaller version here (640 by 480), larger version here (1024 by 768, but I recommend this larger version).

  • Local Loser

    Could’ve been worse, I suppose, if it weren’t so amusing.

    According to this article on Bend.com, Jodie Lynn Ackerman was released from jail last Wednesday (the 8th) due to overcrowding. By Saturday night (three days later), she “was booked back into the jail on charges of second-degree theft, unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, first-degree criminal mischief and a probation violation.” Seems to me that if you suddenly got a “get out of jail free” card, shouldn’t you not do something stupid, like, oh, I don’t know, steal a car and some beer and evade the police?

    (This also showed up on UtterlyBoring.com.)

  • Disturbing

    A little while back (a month, maybe two), the “Furball Asian Mart” opened up on the south end of Bend, near the corner of 97 and Brosterhous/Division.

    Yeah. “Furball Asian Mart.” You’re thinking the same thing I did.

    Apparently, somebody else thought so, too: Friday when I passed it going home from work, they had covered up the “Furball” so that it’s now simply the “Asian Mart.”

  • Bend Venue

    Having grown up and spent a significant part of my life here in Bend, I still tend to thing of it as a small town, even though it’s growing by leaps and bounds. A such, I’m always amused at people’s reactions (my own included) when big-name music comes to town—it’s hard to imagine why bands would go out of their way to play our little logging town. Then I realize, not so little anymore.

    Here’s a list of some of the groups that have played here recently or will be soon:

    • Smash Mouth
    • Willie Nelson
    • Bob Dylan
    • Trisha Yearwood
    • Sixpence None the Richer
    • Jimmy Cliff
    • Coldplay
    • Charlie Daniels
    • Lyle Lovett
    • The Beach Boys

    You get the idea. They may not be the biggest names in the industry, but they’re sure a hell of a lot bigger than John Grant and the Rednecks.

    (Yes, that’s a real band. Or it used to be. I grew up next door to that guy.)