Bend OR

So, everybody knows that Oregon is a hipster place that does great coffee, has a strong artistic side, and is slightly left of center, all set in beautiful landscapes. If Bend, Oregon, is anything to go by then this is all true. A mountain town on the edge of the Deschutes National Forest, Bend is small town that feels very alive. From coffee roasters to art galleries to microbreweries to live music and great food. And that’s not even considering the huge variety of outdoor activities and wonderful wild spaces just on the town’s door step.

Looking up through a forest of trees covered with a long hair-like green moss, towards a sunny blue sky.
A sign nailed to a tree trunk indicates a snow shoe trail; Looking through mossy trees at the white snowy peak of Mt Bachelor Ski Resort on a sunny day with blue skies.
A man split boards on a freshly groomed trail through the woods, while his dog makes her own path through the deep snow.
With clear blue skies, sunlight peaks around a tree in the forest with dead moss hanging off it like long black hair; In the forest, looking up at light green pine branches with snow resting on top and blue skies above.
In a snowy forest the branch of a very leafy pine tree is also covered in moss that looks like long green hair, blowing in the breeze; Looking out a cafe window in downtown Bend, with microbrews on the newspaper, a funky light above, and a dog sitting outside on the red brick pavement.
A man in a red plaid flannel shirt holds a take away cup of coffee, with the small roastery’s logo roughly printed on the paper cup; A blue door with the bar’s draught beers written on it in chalk, including local beers, Oregon beers, and imported ones.
Colourful cup and plates with tea and half eaten banana bread that was to delicious to wait for, with two forks in the window of a cafe.
Two wooden chairs outside the sliding blue wooden door of a small coffee roasters, with a pine tree in a pot; A wooden sign on the sidewalk pointing to a small coffee roastery down the alley, with old red brick buildings behind.
Beyond Bend in the Willamette National Forest, a fire-scarred snowy mountain landscape with the charred skeletons of burnt trees, and a dramatic volcano-shaped peak; Looking past newspaper boxes and brown autumn leaves still clinging to the tree, to a grey truck driving down the main street of Bend.
Not your typical snow town winter landscape, looking through trees just outside town across dry brown grass to a pine forest and dramatic volcano-shaped snowy mountain peaks, as a farmhouse has a bonfire.
Looking across dry brown grass to a pine forest and volcano-shaped snow-covered mountain peak which is part of the Three Sisters; A car and a truck drive down the road, with red dirt on the roadside and the volcano-shaped snowy mountain peak of Mt Hood in the distance.
Crossing the mountains heading towards the coast we stumble on a rich dark forest with different types of lush green moss growing on every surface, from fallen logs to thin branches.
Dark forest with long bright green moss growing on every surface.
Tiny trees with bright green leaves grow out of a fallen tree covered in moss in the dark forest; Long delicate hair-like pieces of bright green moss growing on thin branches in the dark forest are just caught by the sunlight and slightly glow.
Sunlight peaks through the dark forest onto a fallen tree with different types of bright green moss and tiny trees growing on it.
A deep blue river filled with rocks in a lush dark forest with overhanging tree branches covered in bright green moss.
A tiny waterfall flows out into a river amongst a thick forest of mossy rocks and trees, with green pines and ferns.
A fallen orange autumn leaf sits on damp the damp ground, with water droplets on the green grass; The deep blue green of a river in a cool dark forest, with overhanging tree branches covered in bright green moss.