The joys of living in Bend

According to this chart, Bend is in what is known as the ‘Lumbersexual’ stage of hipster.

According to this chart, Bend is in what is known as the ‘Lumbersexual’ stage of hipster.

My family and I went to party a couple of weekends ago, and my wife noted, as we entered a busy living room, that I was the only man there not wearing a lumberjack shirt. The joke perhaps here is that I have a lumberjack shirt, and chose not to wear it that night. Admittedly it wasn’t coloured red and black, which I noted all others were, and I also noticed, like much of the developed world currently that facial hair was in. Facial hair isn’t my thing, as beyond a couple of weeks growth my face becomes a patchy, adolescent collage so I can’t really join that party. Anyway there was a clear uniform and I feel that applies to Bend in general. Coolness is through the roof here, but individually is desperately lacking.

tv.jpg

The one eccentric fashionista I have seen so far was when I was volunteering at the Restore. The Restore was the humanitarian charity that furnished my house. I had been feeling so guilty about claiming the 50” TV that was there for the taking (disclaimer; this TV was claimed legitimately - I did not steal it) and had decided to volunteer for the shop, in order to give something back. Every time I worked there a man would peruse the shop in full cowboy gear. He was one of the few people that seemed to buck the trend in Bend; someone that dressed apart from the crowd. Everyone knew him, but he didn’t work there. I didn’t ask who he was, all sorts of people frequented the place and I thought he might be mentally ill, so I just rolled with it.

The thing is everyone seems cool, and to a certain extent they are cool. But if everyone does the same cool things in the same cool way then suddenly it’s not that cool anymore. For example, when I first saw someone drive past in a 4x4 Mercedes Sprinter campervan, with surf boards on the top and mountain bikes on the back I thought yeah, that’s the sort of thing I’d like to be driving round in. But when you’ve seen 6 of them driving down the same street you begin to realise that everyone has had the same idea.

Now is that a bad thing? When homogeny has created something largely positive, as opposed to something like Brexit or racism. Everyone aspiring to the same positive ideals, and in doing so rendering themselves identical? Or is that they’re simply all cool?

My daughters adding some perspective to the daunting but beautiful, Smith Rock.

My daughters adding some perspective to the daunting but beautiful, Smith Rock.

What Bend is, is an outdoor Mecca. I’m aware that’s an overused term, but as much as Bend is not a place of religious pilgrimage, it homes a staggering variety and quality of outdoor pursuits and as a destination is a place sportspeople from all over the state and possibly the country are drawn to. The surrounding forests are riddled with managed and maintained mountain bike trails, some really good ones as well. Smith rock, a humungous outcrop of volcanic basalt that has world famous climbing is only half an hours drive, and Mount Bachelor is just 20 miles from the city limits, a 2764 m volcano hosting a bike park in the summer, and the 6th biggest ski resort in the US in winter. Every house seems to have an RV, a 4x4 and a Skidoo parked outside; most have hot tubs. You can also do Nordic skiing, husky driving, snow-shoeing and apparently the golf is world class, but I don’t give a fuck about any of those things. Suffice it to say it suits my sporting needs as well as the needs of others.

Culturally Bend is one of the whitest, most middle class cities I have ever visited. Like any city there is a degree of homelessness, but crime seems low and it is very much a town where doors are left unlocked. Ethnic diversity, even for someone raised in Cumbria is desperately lacking. Even the Hispanic community seems almost completely absent so it becomes a town where anyone who isn’t white Caucasian is cause for a double take. Some would like this, but I’m not sure I do, and I can’t help thinking that this whitewash is partly responsible for the ‘incomer’ attitude people have – admittedly that’s more directed toward Californian’s than anyone else, but it still gives me the impression that it is a town that might struggle with any kind of immigrant influx. Not that people are racist, far from it – attitudes here are extremely liberal, more so than Cumbria in general which seems to have concluded that other cultures are bad, regardless of how few of them exist there.

Socially it’s a difficult one to call. Having children, one of whom is under 5 it means we rarely go out unaccompanied so I can’t really comment on the nightlife beyond a Pizza house which has a soft play. The people are incredibly friendly, and I rarely converse with someone in the park without them giving me their number (perhaps that’s down to my not inconsiderable charm) and in the few months we’ve been here now we’ve made some good friends and are invited out more than we care to go. Interaction, particularly between men is different to the UK. A machismo front is prevalent in conversation and I regularly feel I’m being exposed to a guarded personality rather than a genuine self; similar to social media I suppose. Making each other laugh takes second place to conversations about economics or politics, but that could be as a result of friendships that are still in the stages of small talk, and that when people are more comfortable with me they may begin to open up (or rather close down). That’s one of the most difficult things about starting somewhere socially from scratch: a period of niceties and best behavior are required before friendships can be formed and these require time, and often shared experiences to blossom, and to a largely anti-social man such as myself this represents a considerable challenge.

The basics I was looking for however are more than covered. A climate that’s cold in the winter, hot in the summer with a nearby mountain that has lift access and plenty of freshwater to splash in, without the precipitation and land restrictions of the Lake District. The one thing I hadn’t previously considered however was the quality of the beer scene. I’ve mentioned in a previous post how many microbreweries there are here, but the quality and variety of ale on offer is astounding. I haven’t had a bad beer since I got here and bars and restaurants alike have 10 or even 20 beers on tap, ranging from delicious to irresistible. My current favourite is an IPA called ‘Secret Sauce’ (fnar fnar) which at 9.2% is stronger than Special Brew, but tastes nice. It appeals to my thrifty side (which are all of my sides) as it’s twice the strength of my usual tipple, meaning 2 pints ($10) and I’m ready to meander home.

So pros vs cons? People, place, beer and cheap gas come at the expense of a differing social culture, work, healthcare and of course Trump (although it’s fair to say the latter’s influence is not strongly felt here). How does that compare to the Lakes? How does it compare to where you live? Perhaps we should see how Brexit plays out before we make a call on who wins here.