Beer with Four-Legged Friends

Ann and I love living in Bend. One of the attractions for us is one of the best beer scenes in the country, especially if you love West Coast IPAs as much as we do. We've lived here in Bend now coming right up in days on two years. And we spent much of the first  year exploring all the outlets for great beer in town.

In year two, however, we really stopped making the rounds of breweries. We stopped because we have found a home away from home at Crosscut Warming Hut across the street from the Box Factory. We know the staff there and a lot of the regulars with whom we sit and catch up. And we appreciate the daily-changing line-up of great Oregon beers with the occasional beer from Washington or California.

Just last week, we were taking advantage of our rather mild weather by sitting out at a fire pit in front of Crosscut right on Industrial Way. It was late afternoon (not all that late in the day given that the sun is now setting before 4:30pm) when I looked up and spied four mule deer emerge out of the trees just feet across the street from us.

Now there is certainly nothing unique about this: mule deer are everywhere in Bend. But even to our somewhat deer-jaded group around the fire pit, there seemed to be something magical about the deer being in such close proximity, despite our seeing them almost daily. Ann was moved to take a few photos with her iPhone; sadly they are grainy because of the low light conditions.

Despite having hit a deer a year ago and despite having to scout the roadway very carefully, especially in the fall and early winter during rut, we still love having these gentle creatures around. We feel very fortunate to live in a town where we see deer walking down the sidewalk in front of the house, not ten feet away from us. We look forward to spring (late May and June at this elevation) when the spotted little fawns will accompany the adults.

And I will never forget back in October when driving home from Crosscut that a massive buck and two does walked right across the street in front of my truck, forcing me to stop. The rack on this guy was as wide as the hood of my truck. I have never seen such a venerable old beast as he.

Beer and deer: two great reasons to live here in Bend, Oregon!