Central Oregon Meet-up After Action Report
Well that was sure fun! In the aftermath of a brutal Oregon-Stanford matchup yesterday, brave Ricochetti drove over mountain passes to gather at the Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon.
Except for the absence of information about the massive unemployment and foreclosure rate, this Chamber of Commerce description of Bend is about right:
Tucked between the peaks of the Cascade mountains and the juniper-rich Central Oregon plateaus, Bend, Oregon has grown from a locals-only timber town to a world-renown destination for outdoor enthusiasts and those with a thirst for mountains by morning, rivers by lunch and a fireside glass of wine with desert by nightfall. Bend is one of the nicest places in the world to live, infused with beautiful scenery and great weather, entrepreneurial-spirited, adventure loving singles, families and retirees. Whether your passion is hiking, biking and skiing, fishing, climbing or trekking in the Cascade mountains, or simply enjoying living in a community-spirited mountain town at the base of one the nation's top ski resorts, people from around the world visit, are inspired and chose to live, work and play in Bend, Oregon.
Sounds lovely, right? And it has quite the brewery subculture. It's completely wasted on me since I'm not a beer drinker. I know, I know. I've tried.
Anyway, we had an absolute blast talking about the Romney campaign, the decline and fall of Western Civilization, and C.U. Douglas (whose parents were there and confirmed for us that his recent nuptials were just as beautiful as they sounded). I'll let them identify themselves by user name since I didn't catch any user name and I'm not sure if they want to be outed under their real names (by the way, Mark and I go way back with C.U. Douglas' parents who we met on the Weekly Standard cruise about a year ago). Other meeter-uppers included Chelly Bouferrache, her husband and their precious daughter who was just an angel and somehow slept on bar stools while we laughed throughout the afternoon. ThinkSo and Diaryof1 came over from Redmond and I believe we were a good portion of the way to solving the world's problems when we had to break it up and head home.
Here are a few more pictures:
So that's Diaryof1, me and Mark. And yes, I am showing Diary pictures of my children. Don't make fun of me.
Pater of C.U. Douglas (you can kind of see the resemblance, no?), ThinkSo and Diary of 1. ThinkSo and Mark were able to commiserate over the horrible Ducks loss yesterday. (But hey, at least that Baylor game was fun, right?)
Chelly and I had to take about two dozen pictures until we could get one of ourselves where I wasn't ruining it by laughing so hard. We also attempted pictures with Diaryof1 but we were laughing so hard that I am not sure we got a usable one (although I'll be checking my camera again later and will post if able).
The lovely Mater of C.U. Douglas, Pater of C.U. Douglas and ThinkSo.
We nine Oregonians (or spouses of Oregonians) had a great time. I can't wait for the next visit back so we can do it again!
Thanks to Chelly for the photographs!
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Aug '12
Re: Central Oregon Meet-up After Action Report
I will confirm the fun and lovely afternoon. And the fantastic microbrew culture that is also lost on me but much appreciated by my husband. But I did smell (and taste) Mr. Hemingway's drink (remind me of the name?) and it was complex and wonderful, and I believe I need to rethink my notion that I don't like beer.
On our way home we said, "So, this is what the Church is supposed to be like." Mr. and I have been talking/commiserating for some time about the lack of relationship/discussion at a deep and critical level in the Church (with a capital C). Like the early Church, you know? --those folks who met daily and broke bread together and who must have had brilliant conversations. So we felt very First Century this afternoon, able to come away feeling like we connected on the meaningful issues of life, from faith to politics and culture to Oregon sports.
Thank you, Mark and Mollie, for putting this together. We look forward to the next time we meet!
Nov '12
Re: Central Oregon Meet-up After Action Report
Thanks to C.U. Douglas, we heard about this get-together. I said to myself, "Self. That sounds like fun!" Said to spousal-unit, "Let's play hooky from church and go see the Hemingways." In the audio version, now you hear the sound of my jaw hitting my chest, because she says , "Sure. Let's."What a great time. Met some wonderful conservatives. Got to talk with like-minded folks. And, amazingly, we discovered that several of us grew up in the Lebanon, Sodaville, Sweet Home, and Lacomb area of the central Willamette Valley - fifteen or twenty mile radius!Thanks Molly, Mark for setting this up.
Aug '11
Re: Central Oregon Meet-up After Action Report
Great time. I hope everyone on Ricochet gets a chance to do the same at some point. Meet-ups are very refreshing and for me really answer the question "Why Ricochet?" It's encouraging connecting with like-minded individuals over a food and drink, something you just can't emulate over the internet.
Re: Central Oregon Meet-up After Action Report
It was great to meet you guys! Anyway, to answer your question it was an imperial stout produced by Deschutes Brewery called The Abyss. What's more, it was the 2009 vintage. While they don't have nearly as long a shelf life as wine, most people don't realize that a lot of higher alcohol content beers, especially stouts, can be aged and the complexity and flavor improves over time.
In any event, The Abyss is an unreal chocolate-y stout produced in limited batches annually -- the 2012 vintage was just released -- and it is currently ranked the 29th best beer in the world, according to Ratebeer.com. It's amazing stuff, even if I weren't already partial to it because it's produced in my home town.
Aug '12
Re: Central Oregon Meet-up After Action Report
Mark Hemingway
It was great to meet you guys! Anyway, to answer your question it was an imperial stout produced by Deschutes Brewery called The Abyss. ...
I tried to find The Abyss at a local market to serve at Thanksgiving. No luck, maybe I have to go to the Deschutes Brewery to find it? I served a different Deschutes Brewery stout--the Obsidian, and Mr. liked it okay, but it definitely wasn't The Abyss. Christmas is coming, though, I'll get it by then... :)