The First 30 Days in Bend, Oregon!

How the heck did I ever become a homebody? International travel just isn’t at the forefront of my mind every hour of every day anymore. I have a 2 week solo trip planned to explore Southern Spain and part of me wants to cancel it, stay home and explore more of Oregon. Of course the trip is a go – business class tickets await, but this is the first time in my life, I have ever considered canceling an international trip.

The summer has had its ups and downs – saying goodbye to Colorado was rough on this old gal. Our home didn’t sell as fast as we thought it might and it was hard to say goodbye to 20+ year friendships. As difficult as it was to say goodbye, Sean and I both felt a lot of love and encouragement for the next chapter in our lives. By the time the end of July came around, we were ready for the move to the Pacific Northwest.

The first 30 days of living here in Oregon have exceeded EVERY expectation on the planet. It feels like home, the way Colorado used to when I first moved there 20+ years ago. We have done so much in such a short period of time. It helps being on a work sabbatical. Every day is a Friday in our household – it’s been incredible. Sometimes the gratitude of our new life overwhelms me – how can we be this fortunate? I miss the crap out of my friends – but I will see them soon enough – either in Colorado or here in Bend, OR.

So what have we done? For everyone’s sanity, I’ll keep it brief and show our experiences through pictures. I haven’t captured all of it, but you’ll get the jest of it. In short, we’ve hiked and run some pretty epic trails, listened to lots of live music (it’s everywhere), SUP’d on crystal clear lakes and rivers, cruised some smooth, swoopy mountain biking trails (actually not terrifying), road tripped to the incredible Oregon wine country, golfed on some sweet, carpet-like courses, searched for starfish on the beach at low tide, discovered all of the off-leash dog parks for our fur babies, camped in some pretty cool forests, watched the amazing skills of kite surfers, enjoyed the magnificent sunsets of central Oregon, and chilled on our patio with an Oregon rose’ and a cribbage board. Phew. Its’s been a blast. What I love most is we have barely scratched the surface. We’ll see what the fall and winter bring!!

Hope you all enjoy the Oregon sights!