Well Bend Me Backwards and Color Me Happy

On the morning of Sunday, October 26, I was Bend-bound. In early 2015, Whitepages' annual trip will be to Bend, Oregon. Two Whitepagers and two amazing event planners from Nkilter spent two days scouting the area and finding ideal locations for our dinners, activities, etc. 

It was fantastic.

The weather was beautiful; the leaves were changing colors and the sun was shining. The people were incredible with an infectious enthusiasm and love for their city. Oh yes, and in the 33.27 square miles of Bend, there are 19 breweries. 19! Oregon ranks #1 in the U.S. for breweries per capita.

First stop: 10 Barrel Brewery! Less than 2 weeks after this picture, they were bought by AB. :(

One of my favorite parts of the visit: the hotel pool. One hour heated lap swim in this lane alllll to myself.

Top: Mt. Bachelor, Left: Our lodge against the river, Right: FALL

The road to Bachelor.

Our trips to Crux and Worthy Breweries deserve a special shout out of their own. At Crux, our tour guide, James, shared more beer knowledge than even I had heard in a long time. We also met the Brewmaster as we were tasting his selections.

Next up, James brought us to Worthy. We had a private tour in the back where we enjoyed samples and ran into the Brewmaster Chad, who happened to be down right hilarious. We continued the tour with his commentary, went into the cold storage, opened a brew, and made our way to their barrels. Here, I poured shot-size samples of the sweet sweet nectar into my fellow travelers' tasting cups. It was so smooth and delicious. What we tasted will not be given to the general public. This mixture will be combined with more beer and will then be distributed to the masses. Talk about an insider's view.

Bottom left: Crux, Top left and right: Upworthy!

If I end up moving to Bend and working in a brewery, I'll look back here and say I called it.