Bend, OR

Its been raining in central Oregon for a few days so after we went to Trout Creek, I really wanted to go to the Newberry National Volcanic Monument down south of Bend, OR. We explored a mile-long volcanic lava tube (which was freezing cold... like 40 degrees inside!), and then drove up to the top of the volcanic crater where we walked around on a huge obsidian flow. We didn't get to explore much in the crater because of the bad weather. :(

Inside the lava tube... there was ice everywhere in the cave!

Obsidian/pumice flow. The flow is happened about 1,300 years ago, not very old geologically speaking.

Dinner in the car... this is what we resort to when being cheap. Chili dogs cold and out of the can.

     Well I managed to zap the capacitor on my laptop charger, so this might be the last blog for awhile before I can get it replaced. My laptop is almost dead.

      The last few days at Smith Rock have been rainy, so we ventured into Bend, OR for some entertainment. Today was Bend's annual Bite of Bend festival. It’s a festival to celebrate local food and alcohol. Bend closed off a few streets in downtown and lined them with dozens of local food and market vendors. This wasn’t your typical festival…. There was absolutely no fried twinkies/oreos/or fried paraphernalia whatsoever. All the food that was cooked and served was local, delicious and unique to each cook. We tasted everything from raw chocolate, to risotto stuffed with goat cheese covered in a basil cream sauce, chicken shwarma, buffalo sliders, homemade paella and lots of other delicious food. We got to observe an outdoor Top chef competition featuring local chefs from Bend and yes they each had a secret ingredient! They had an entire street blocked off to liquor distilleries, over 40 distilleries where showcasing their alcohol and for 15 bucks you could sample as much as you wanted. We didn't feel like throwing-up on the street, so we opted out.

    Some citizen of Bend decided it would be cool to create a Craigslist farmer's market. You heard me an online farmer's market that includes 175 farms in central Oregon that operates 4 days a week. It sounds pretty cool and if your in to that type of thing I believe its at www.centraloregonlocavore.com. I'll give it to the people of Bend, they love their local food and booze, but they kept throwing away perfectly good food after the Top chef competition. Me and Michael were having heart attack when we saw them throw away an entire pork loin that had been cooked on stage!!! WTF don't cook it and throw it away. Give it to those in need like the poor college kids!

Michael eating yummy vendor food!

the paella food cart.... so awesome

Stage for the Top Chef competition, and yes that is a whole pig head, freshly killed!