Bend OR break

get it?

Bend has been exceptional. I drove through the mountains of Oregon from Eugene to Bend on Saturday morning with the sun shining through the trees. I saw some unbelievable landscapes. The river followed me most of the way, but there was a section of visage where it looked like the highway crews had taken a backhoe to everything but a few trees. I asked myself, "how did they get so close to those trees and miss their roots?" I learned that the landscape had been torn apart by Volcanic rock and not a backhoe. When the landscape looks like it is in conflict with itself, I love it. I had this experience is Ireland and somewhere else, I can't remember.
Bjorn was waiting for me. He had a whole day planned for me.We had lunch at Cascade Lakes Brewing Co which was great except we saw Minnesota fail to make the comeback and Michigan bomb in overtime. Good beer, pub beer and an IPA on Nitro - great. Bjorn took me on a tour of the Deschutes Brewery.  It was a large brewery, but they make a lot of great beer. They reminded me of Odell in their business model and New Belgium in their commitment to green brewing. We went to The Old Mill district to a Mc Menamins and smoked some cigars in the gentle snow. Yes, the snow! I was not ready; I came to the NW to get away from Fall, not speed it up! It was beautiful, though. The highlight of the beer day was the Deschutes Public House. It was in a different location from the brewery, but had a smaller brew setup and made some beers for the pub only. They have 20 of their own beers on tap. TWENTY!!! This is astounding. Four of them were IPA's. I had some beers that hadn't even crossed my mind as a possibility. 1) A Black IPA. Dark in color, but not deep in mouthfeel. Full of Hop aroma and bitterness, but smooth. 2) A Wheat IPA. Surprisingly, the wheat shows up. This is the type of revolutionary brew that could make a Kansas (wheat state?) brewery if I find the balance and uniqueness of hops and wheat. Write it down, this is it.
That evening, Bjorn, his wife Elise, and I went and listened to Shawn Mullins. You may know him from the popular song from a few years back, "Rockabye." He is a classy, singer-songwriter, storyteller.


Sunday, I got to go to Bjorn and Elise's church, Nativity Lutheran Church. It was a classic liturgical church. But they have found a passion for Social Justice, actually giving to and serving the poor, environmental stewardship and having an invitational community to groups not normally invited into the Church. In church, these themes dominated because it was St. Francis of Assisi day, but afterward, it seemed to me that they were good at community. I was invited to an afternoon meal with close friends of diverse ages within the church. I was impressed with the way that they discussed what was actually going on in their lives and planned on creating webs of support for each other. It was a beautiful example of a possible progression of our House Church in Lawrence.


I am going to try and stay another day because it is really fun to hang out with Bjorn and Elise. They are great hosts and giving with their time and home.