Wednesday
October 20
I had originally planned my day in Bend as a day of golf on one of the many golf courses in the area. However, it had been unseasonally cool for the last few days, and each day it had spitted some rain between occassional spots of sun. On this morning I awoke to a very overcast sky and a steady drip of percipitation. Plus, it was about 40 degrees and probably would not go up past 50 during the day. Being used to the sunshine and weather of San Diego, I had long ago lost the "drive" to golf no matter what the weather, and decided on playing realtor for the day.
At breakfast I had a chat with the other guy from San Diego who had been looking at retirement property. He was also a golfer, and had checked out the Bend Country Club and thought the facilities there were super! He had looked at property all over town and had some good suggestions. He even gave me the name of the real estate office he had used.
Since it was raining, I thought that it would be a great day to drive around Bend and look at different areas and check out pricing. There were three private country clubs I could stop at for information.
I didn't know exactly what Nancy was going to do, but I thought that she wanted to spend her day walking and shopping downtown Old Bend, and just relaxing at the Lara.
So, after Bobye had served breakfast, I was off on my adventure! I made a stop at an auto parts store and bought a couple of quarts of oil for the car. The old Mercedes was doing great on the trip, but needed a quart about every 1000 miles, so it was good to have some in the trunk.
I drove to the east side of town, and made a right on a street that appeared to be the old route of Rte 67. There were alot of old motels and other businesses which would have catered to traffic passing through in earlier days when Bend was a much smaller berg! Bobye had told me that when she moved to Bend 17 years ago, the population was about 17000. Now it was about 70000. So there had been a big change, and the city was still growing fairly rapidly due to people like us who were retiring and moving from high cost areas of California, to the lower costs of Oregon. After L.A, and San Diego, Bend was still pretty small to me!
What made Bend a prime area was the climate. Along the coast of Oregon, rainfall averaged about 60 inches annually. Because Bend was east of the Cascades, most of the moisture got dumped before it could make it over the mountain range, and Bend's annual percipitation was only 12 inches. Bobye said alot of her clients were from Oregon on weekends during the winter, and just came to see the sun for a day or two! The Bend Chamber of Commerce boasted that Bend had 300 days of sunshine annually. I had talked to people from southern California who had moved to places like Portland, and they said it was hard to adjust to grey skies and rain each day, sometimes for months at a time. Because Bend was in the foothils of the Cascades and at an elevation of about 3500 ft, it did occasionally snow during the winter months, but I was told that it didn't stay on the ground for long! There were four distinct seasons, but nothing severe! So Bend had one of the other requirements for life after San Diego--Sunshine!!
I soon found the real estate office and was sitting in their reception room talking with a realtor about her recommendations for my tour of various areas of Bend. She gave me a good map and circled some of the locations that fit my price range. She told me that the best place to buy was on the "west" side, meaning west of new Rte 97 which cut through the middle of town. West was towards the mountains. Old Bend was west side, as was the campus of the small local branch of the University of Oregon. Many of the newer more expensive custom homes, and the two new private country clubs were all on the west side.
Since I was on the east side, that's where I started. The Bend Country Club was on the southeast side of town, so I headed in that direction and drove through some of the neighborhoods in that area before finally stopping at the club for a look see!
It was the oldest club in town. I was told that the original 9 holes were built about 1925. The clubhouse was newer and had great facilities, including men's and women's locker rooms, very nice dining and meeting facilities, two indoor tennis courts, and indoor pool, his and hers excercise rooms, and a driving range. The fairways of the course were defined by pine trees. The course was just what I liked, an old traditionally styled course with the back tees at about 7000 yds. And the price was right!! Another of the necessities of life fulfilled in Bend-- Golf!
While I was standing outside in the cold drizzle looking out at the first tee, a lone golfer hit his drive and took off down the fairway after his ball. Some one was on the driving range hitting balls! Golfers were heartier in Bend than in San Diego. They said they kept the course staff availiable year round, even in the winter. If it was frosted but with no snow, they would set up temporary greens, and members could play! They said most of the courses in the area shut down for 3-4 months in the winter. I guess if we lived there I would probably be out there!!
I headed over to the west side and drove through some of the newer developments, and then headed back towards Old Bend and the Lara. I thought I would stop and see what Nancy was doing. She was just returning from a walk along the river, and said that there was a knit store she wanted to visit, and she wanted to show me some old craftsman cottages near the Lara. We drove by some of the areas I had visited earlier and revisited the Country Club. We looked at the two newer golf clubs on the west side. They were nice, more expensive, and a bit snooty. When we visited her knit store, there was a flyfishing store right next door. While I waited for her, I watched a guy practice flyfishing in the parking lot, and talked with a young guy whose parents lived in San Diego. He said he had moved up to Bend for the flyfishing! Bend! Sun, Golf, Flyfishing!
We decided that a small craftsman on the west side in Old Bend was the desired property, the Bend Country Club was the desired golf facility, and that Nancy was ready to move!! She had always thought that her soul required the beach and the ocean, but upon reflection, felt that her heart was really in the mountains. The Dechutes River appeared to be enough water to calm that part of her Psyche!
It was early in the afternoon, and the Sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds, so I guess they could call it another sunny day in Bend.
That night we had dinner at a newer restaurant just a short walk from the Lara in Old Bend. It was modern, a bit expensive, and not particularly memorable.
In the morning we would be heading south, destination Ashland!
October 20
I had originally planned my day in Bend as a day of golf on one of the many golf courses in the area. However, it had been unseasonally cool for the last few days, and each day it had spitted some rain between occassional spots of sun. On this morning I awoke to a very overcast sky and a steady drip of percipitation. Plus, it was about 40 degrees and probably would not go up past 50 during the day. Being used to the sunshine and weather of San Diego, I had long ago lost the "drive" to golf no matter what the weather, and decided on playing realtor for the day.
At breakfast I had a chat with the other guy from San Diego who had been looking at retirement property. He was also a golfer, and had checked out the Bend Country Club and thought the facilities there were super! He had looked at property all over town and had some good suggestions. He even gave me the name of the real estate office he had used.
Since it was raining, I thought that it would be a great day to drive around Bend and look at different areas and check out pricing. There were three private country clubs I could stop at for information.
I didn't know exactly what Nancy was going to do, but I thought that she wanted to spend her day walking and shopping downtown Old Bend, and just relaxing at the Lara.
So, after Bobye had served breakfast, I was off on my adventure! I made a stop at an auto parts store and bought a couple of quarts of oil for the car. The old Mercedes was doing great on the trip, but needed a quart about every 1000 miles, so it was good to have some in the trunk.
I drove to the east side of town, and made a right on a street that appeared to be the old route of Rte 67. There were alot of old motels and other businesses which would have catered to traffic passing through in earlier days when Bend was a much smaller berg! Bobye had told me that when she moved to Bend 17 years ago, the population was about 17000. Now it was about 70000. So there had been a big change, and the city was still growing fairly rapidly due to people like us who were retiring and moving from high cost areas of California, to the lower costs of Oregon. After L.A, and San Diego, Bend was still pretty small to me!
What made Bend a prime area was the climate. Along the coast of Oregon, rainfall averaged about 60 inches annually. Because Bend was east of the Cascades, most of the moisture got dumped before it could make it over the mountain range, and Bend's annual percipitation was only 12 inches. Bobye said alot of her clients were from Oregon on weekends during the winter, and just came to see the sun for a day or two! The Bend Chamber of Commerce boasted that Bend had 300 days of sunshine annually. I had talked to people from southern California who had moved to places like Portland, and they said it was hard to adjust to grey skies and rain each day, sometimes for months at a time. Because Bend was in the foothils of the Cascades and at an elevation of about 3500 ft, it did occasionally snow during the winter months, but I was told that it didn't stay on the ground for long! There were four distinct seasons, but nothing severe! So Bend had one of the other requirements for life after San Diego--Sunshine!!
I soon found the real estate office and was sitting in their reception room talking with a realtor about her recommendations for my tour of various areas of Bend. She gave me a good map and circled some of the locations that fit my price range. She told me that the best place to buy was on the "west" side, meaning west of new Rte 97 which cut through the middle of town. West was towards the mountains. Old Bend was west side, as was the campus of the small local branch of the University of Oregon. Many of the newer more expensive custom homes, and the two new private country clubs were all on the west side.
Since I was on the east side, that's where I started. The Bend Country Club was on the southeast side of town, so I headed in that direction and drove through some of the neighborhoods in that area before finally stopping at the club for a look see!
It was the oldest club in town. I was told that the original 9 holes were built about 1925. The clubhouse was newer and had great facilities, including men's and women's locker rooms, very nice dining and meeting facilities, two indoor tennis courts, and indoor pool, his and hers excercise rooms, and a driving range. The fairways of the course were defined by pine trees. The course was just what I liked, an old traditionally styled course with the back tees at about 7000 yds. And the price was right!! Another of the necessities of life fulfilled in Bend-- Golf!
While I was standing outside in the cold drizzle looking out at the first tee, a lone golfer hit his drive and took off down the fairway after his ball. Some one was on the driving range hitting balls! Golfers were heartier in Bend than in San Diego. They said they kept the course staff availiable year round, even in the winter. If it was frosted but with no snow, they would set up temporary greens, and members could play! They said most of the courses in the area shut down for 3-4 months in the winter. I guess if we lived there I would probably be out there!!
I headed over to the west side and drove through some of the newer developments, and then headed back towards Old Bend and the Lara. I thought I would stop and see what Nancy was doing. She was just returning from a walk along the river, and said that there was a knit store she wanted to visit, and she wanted to show me some old craftsman cottages near the Lara. We drove by some of the areas I had visited earlier and revisited the Country Club. We looked at the two newer golf clubs on the west side. They were nice, more expensive, and a bit snooty. When we visited her knit store, there was a flyfishing store right next door. While I waited for her, I watched a guy practice flyfishing in the parking lot, and talked with a young guy whose parents lived in San Diego. He said he had moved up to Bend for the flyfishing! Bend! Sun, Golf, Flyfishing!
We decided that a small craftsman on the west side in Old Bend was the desired property, the Bend Country Club was the desired golf facility, and that Nancy was ready to move!! She had always thought that her soul required the beach and the ocean, but upon reflection, felt that her heart was really in the mountains. The Dechutes River appeared to be enough water to calm that part of her Psyche!
It was early in the afternoon, and the Sun was playing peek-a-boo with the clouds, so I guess they could call it another sunny day in Bend.
That night we had dinner at a newer restaurant just a short walk from the Lara in Old Bend. It was modern, a bit expensive, and not particularly memorable.
In the morning we would be heading south, destination Ashland!
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