Climate/recreation superb
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9/19/2017
Bend has an excellent climate. It's not excessively cold in the winter, and actually cooler than many other areas in the summer due to down slope cooling from glaciated mountains. The town receives around 12 inches of precipitation a year which is about equal to Tucson, Arizona. However, you can drive 20 miles to Mount Bachelor where there may be 20-30 feet of snow in a typical winter.
This means you can ride your bike in town or nearby desert areas, but ski in the same day.
And though Bend may be technically a "desert" there is a lot of water neaby. Some 45 lakes are within an hours of drive, not to mention a number of spring fed rivers, including the Deschutes River which flows through town.
Add in six wilderness areas within an hour or so of town for hiking and cross country skiing, it's pretty hard to beat.
But what I also like is there is a fair amount of cultural activities here as well. Summer time concerts, speakers on various topics, plays, and so forth are available throughout the year.
The recent creation of a four year college (Oregon Cascades) along with the Central Oregon Community College means there are many educational opportunities.
The city also has invested in city parks. There are parks in every neighborhood and several that are quite large like the Shelvin Park on the edge of the city which is now almost a thousand acres and has miles of trails for hiking and mountain biking. Add in that the community is nearly surrounded by national forest and/or BLM lands, and you have a lot of public land to recreate upon.
Not surprisingly when you have so much positive attributes, there is a high demand for housing and the cost of housing has risen rapidly. If you are moving here from California, home prices might seem inexpensive, but if you are coming from someplace like the mid-west where homes are very cheap, Bend may be a stretch.
George | ,