Dudes Weekend: What to do, where to eat in Bend, Oregon

We walked and biked all weekend in Bend, Oregon, along the Deschutes River Trail.

Darling Husband, his best friend Jamie and I road tripped down to Bend this summer for Bend Brewfest. We discovered that Bend is sunny and perfect for people like us who like to spend time outdoors.

Read below to find out why "moving to Bend" was a recurring discussion throughout this fun weekend.

The area
Bend is in the middle of the state of Oregon on the Deschutes River. We adventured there in August 2016 and the weather (for me) was perfect -- dry, hot, cloudless blue skies and a likeable mix of desert and green landscapes. The city was larger than I remembered from previous trips, though we spent most of our time downtown and in the Mill District.

We loved our VRBO rental on Hill Street. It was just a 10-minute walk to downtown.

Walkable and bikeable, we really enjoyed discovering by foot and electric bike. There are tons of long, winding paths throughout the city and along the river.

Where we stayed
We decided to save a bit of money. We knew hotel rooms would be expensive, so we booked a VRBO rental on Hill Street, just a 10-minute walk from downtown. For a long weekend, it was nice to have a living area where we could hang out, a kitchen to cook breakfast in (and a late-night popcorn snack) and it was still close to downtown.

The rental was a duplex, but we never heard the neighbors. It was updated and clean inside and had nice finishes. It was a two-bedroom, one bathroom rental, and I loved the original bathtub and bathroom floor tiles. In the morning, I enjoyed coffee and a book on the little deck out back. It was tiny so we definitely heard one another moving about, but a perfect amount of space for the three of us.

These electric bikes we rented were fantastic! I rode tandem on Darling Husband's bike and I didn't even have to pedal!

What we did
I was lucky enough to enjoy Bend with two gentlemen who love the outdoors. We adventured all over the city.

On Friday, we walked for about two hours in the morning, exploring downtown and historic Old Bend and making our way out to the Les Schwab Amphitheater where the Brewfest was held. Both days after our jaunt to the brewfest, we rented large orange tubes from Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoe and floated the river. On hot, sunny days, the icy Deschutes was mellow bliss.

On Saturday, we rented bikes at Bend Electric Bikes on Hill Street right by our rental. We rode all over the Deschutes River Trail for about two hours.

We enjoyed this beautiful sunset on the river Friday night at the Crow's Feet Commons.

When the sun went down, we walked to downtown for dinner. Downtown was busy, but we were seated right away at both restaurants Friday and Saturday nights.

What we ate
We stopped at Safeway as soon as we arrived in Bend late Thursday night to pick up breakfast items, snacks and wine. We had lunch both days at the brewfest, taking advantage of the variety of trucks offering barbecue, Asian noodles, Greek, gourmet hot dogs and pizza.

For dinner downtown, the first night we had beers and pub fare at Brother Jon's Alehouse. We got to sit at the tables right outside the front door and enjoyed people (tourist) watching. Note: The Deschutes Brewery Bend Public House restaurant downtown was swamped. Leave yourself some extra time if it's on your Bend bucket list.

Lovin' that sun!

The second night, we enjoyed margaritas and Mexican food at Hola! We again ate outside and enjoyed the sunshine.

After dinner the first night, we walked over to the river to enjoy the sunset. We grabbed a beer at Crow's Feet Commons and sat on the front porch of this gorgeous old house and enjoyed the colors as the sun went down. It was a relaxed, casual atmosphere that we loved.

Verdict: Bend is perfect for people who live to be outdoors. We walked, biked, floated and ate our way through the weekend and we wouldn't have had it any other way.

On our electric bike ride, we discovered Farewell Bend Park. I knew we had to come back here for a photo before leaving town. The men humored me. 

Review: Bend Brewfest in Bend, Oregon

These two tall drinks of water road tripped with me down to Bend, Oregon, to enjoy some suds at the Bend Brewfest.

Nearly one year ago, Darling Husband's friend Marshall suggested we all go to the Bend Brewfest in Bend, Oregon, in 2016.

Well, we make plans and God laughs.

Marshall and his wife Cassie are having a baby in September and Cassie didn't want to go to a Beerfest in 90-degree heat when she's eight months pregnant. Imagine that.

Darling Husband, his friend Jamie and I all benefited from Marshall's bright idea. We took one day off work and headed down to Bend, a five-hour drive, to enjoy this special Beerfest.

Location
The brewfest is held at the Les Schwab Amphitheater. It took us about 25 minutes to walk there from our VRBO rental on Hill Street. The area is walkable, bikeable and right on the Deschutes River. The flowers were remarkable. Bright pinks, purples, yellows and greens poured through the public spaces like a river, washing every scene in delight.

Seriously the most gorgeous flowers I have seen in any city. They went on and on.

I don't know how parking was because we walked both days. The second day, we parked by the Tumalo Creek Kayak & Canoes rentals place and walked over to the amphitheater (five-minute walk). We rented tubes after we had our lunch and beer fill and floated the river right back to Tumalo Creek. This was a genius idea.

What surprised me was how small the venue was. I was expecting thousands upon thousands of people, reminiscent of our Watershed Music Festival experience weeks prior. But, when we arrived at noon on the second day of the festival that Friday, there were just a couple hundred people.

On both days, we had to queue up in a short line to have our IDs checked, get our wristbands and buy our tokens and mugs.

The corn hole was free! Beware of the guy from Kentucky who asks you to play doubles. He played this in college and he will win.

Cost
The price was decent. Just $20 got us each one souvenir plastic mug and five tasting tokens. Darling Husband and I only used four tokens each our first day. We bought five more for $5 total to share on the last day and then I wanted a full glass of Burnside's Sun Splash, so I went back for four more tokens, $4, for a full-size beer. That's $29 for two people for a lot of beer and two days of fun!

Food
The first thing we did both Friday and Saturday was start with a meal. On Friday, Darling Husband and I went to the Acme Hot Dog Co. food truck. Inside the venue were about 10 food trucks with different cuisine. I got a hot dog covered in cabbage-style salad that had a spicy aioli. Darling Husband's hot dog had bacon and mac and cheese on it.

The second day, Darling Husband got island noodles, which were decent. Jamie and I had gyros and we all shared a piece of baklava. The gyros were great because they weren't a gut bomb like other typical festival fare.

Most food was right around the $10 mark per meal. Darling Husband and I spent about $40 on food for two lunches over two days.

Jamie enjoyed a barbecue lunch on Friday at Brewfest.

Atmosphere
The atmosphere was so mellow. We arrived right around noon both days and this worked for us. The gal at the hot dog food truck said the festival gets really rowdy after dark and watching the guests stumble or fall was entertaining to her. This made us very grateful to be early birds.

The event was family friendly before 7 p.m., which surprised me. The kids were fine, but there was nothing  for them to do. Or us, for that matter.

There were tables so we could steal some shade at and enjoy a meal. We ended up sharing each time and it was a fun way to meet locals and tourists.

One vendor brought corn hole, which we played on Friday. But, other than drinking beer, there wasn't anything to do. We spent just about two hours at the festival each day, Friday then Saturday, before we sought other endeavors for the day -- namely tubing on the chilly, delightful Deschutes.

Amenities
There were plenty of porta potties to go around. I like that they had filtered water stations too so we could stay hydrated - it was HOT! Amenities weren't great for families. There was only a certain number of tables under shade canopies and you had to battle for a seat. And I didn't see any place where babies could be changed.

The Beer
Oh yeah -- the beer! Because we all shared sips of each others' beers, I lost count of how many I tried and I didn't see the scorecard in my Brewfest booklet until the last second.

Standouts for me:

• Toutle-Loo Pale Ale by Ashtown
• Vanilla Pumpkin Porter by Klamath Basin
• Ferrari Red by Shade Tree
• Infrared Northwest Ale by Old 99
• DJ Jazzy Heff by Gilgamesh
• Sunsplash by Burnside

Verdict: I am glad that Bend Brewfest didn't cost us a ton because in reality, we only spent about four hours total at the event. We did get to try a wide range of beer from smaller breweries we hadn't heard of before, And, the biggies were there too. The variety of breweries was excellent. During and after our trip, we all talked about returning to Bend on a road trip in the future. Some locals said the Bite of Bend was fun too, so we might opt to do that in 2017.

We'll see you again, Bend!