This IS it!!! our favorite small town USA city -- Bend Oregon

What a fantastic little city Bend is--population slightly over 80,000 and if they ever filmed a city that epitomizes small town USA, this is would be the location  From its quaint down town area filled with restaurants and shops, to the river that runs through the city, to the parks around the city, to the amazing views of the snow capped mountains (even in July ) to the West, what a grand place.  Temperatures have been in the low 80's for the highs but with lows in the low 50's in the morning... and zippo humidity.

Thought I would post a few representative pictures... we have over 100 from Bend alone but won't bore you with all of them....

 Amazingly beautiful river that cuts through the city, clean as a whistle but a bit cold.

 This is taken from a park bench one block away from the downtown area.

 The river is a bit high from the huge amount of snowfall they had last winter....still experiencing run off.

 Downtown Bend

 This is in the Old Mill area, an area that was created after the closing of the logging operations about 17 yrs ago.  Our hotel was in this area...great restaurants and bars.

 No matter where you go you see really neat flower beds.  

 Kayaks, Canoes, inner tubes, anything that will float...  this is beautiful to watch.  Would like to have tried it out but ran out of time. Next year maybe?

 Notice the snow covered mountains to the west of the city. Supposedly great skiing here.

 Lazy bike riding along the river.

 Oregon has home grown breweries EVERYWHERE. And Bend is no exception.  This is a place called 10 Gallons where we sampled some of their brews.  Great place to meet interesting people too.  The people sitting next to Jan took us under their wing, took us to a really neat local restaurant, introduced to everybody, and make the day even more enjoyable.  So much fun to meet people at each of our stops.

 Summerfest was going on while we were in Bend. On Sunday morning they had a gospel choir and a R&B group...both were outstanding...we stayed and watched the bands perform for over 3 hours!!

 Whew, could this group ever belt it out!!!

 Sorry about all the river pics but it was so beautiful it was impossible not to continue taking more pictures.

 The lobby of the Ameri Tell hotel.  Great property

Reading my kindle in the comfort of the lobby...so relaxing!