I checked the temperature on my IPhone before dressing for a run, but it wasn’t until I opened the door that I discovered it was snowing. Soon-to-be-New-Englanders, we weren’t going to let this deter us from our workout. And we were rewarded handsomely with a magical, snowy run along the Deschutes River.



Paul spent the day job hunting online at our temporary home, the Days Inn.

I checked out the outlets and the Old Mill District and ended up with a fabulous deal on a snow pants (now I can stop wearing a pair of Paul’s) and some waterproof gloves. Then, I spent some time at the local library planning out the remainder of our adventure.

Paul and I enjoyed dinner at the same place I had been for lunch, Café Yumm, a Eugene-based chain offering simple and healthy bowls of brown rice, beans and other (as they name suggests) yummy stuff.



As luck would have it, our visit coincided with the Tour du Chocolat fundraiser downtown at the Tower. Just $5 got you a glass of wine or beer and 5 “tastes.” The difficult part was choosing just 5 from about 20 decadent chocolate choices. There were cakes, truffles, cupcakes, brownies and more created by professionals, culinary students and everyday folks. It was a great time and an extraordinary deal…although the fundraiser in me wonders why they didn’t charge more.



As we left, we saw that, despite being past closing hours, the running store right next door was full of people. We wandered in and discovered that we had stumbled on Bend’s “Art Hop.” Most of the downtown establishments were serving wine and treats. Even the bank!

While in the running store, I inquired about good running trails and was encouraged to sign up for the following morning’s Horse Butte 10-Mile trail race. I had found it online, but the site mentioned that the event usually sold out. The Foot Zone guy was nice enough to call up the race director just as she happened to walk in the store. She was very happy to allow us out-of-towners as late entrants.

With its many opportunities for outdoor recreation, its active population (the only place we saw overweight people was in Costco – seriously) and the friendliness of its residents, Bend is definitely our kind of town.