When I first started talking to people about putting together the 50 b4 50 list, I had certain friends who got super excited about the idea. One those is Cheri Kennedy who right off the bat had me schedule President’s Weekend with her and her husband Bert in Bend, Oregon. She wanted to help me cross off two items on my list AND get to experience Bend’s Winterfest and Zwickelmania, both taking place that same weekend. Luckily, Oregon did actually get winter this year and there has been a good amount of snow, so learning to Cross Country ski was achievable this year. However, the week leading up to this February weekend, we saw temperatures in the 60’s! I arrived in Bend on Friday afternoon, and we were immediately off to enjoy one of the premier events of the Winterfest…a wine walk around the Old Mill District. Its not every day one gets to drink wine in a Sunglass Hut and a Jewelry store. There was also a super cool artists gallery, Lubbesmeyer, that is the studio for a pair of twin sisters who specialize in fiber art projects that they co-produce….very inspiring! After a fun night of food and wine, we headed home to be ready for an early morning to get to the main event! With a not so promising weather report, it was awesome to wake up to fairly sunny skies. We had a quick stop for breakfast and then headed up the mountain to the Virginia Meissner Cross Country area. A lovely community built lodge and series of warming huts for cross country skiers to enjoy with an encouraged donation. Bert and Cheri are both excellent teachers, very patient and thorough in their explanations. It took a bit to get used to the rhythm of the skiing, and as they warned the downhill was definitely hard. In my defense, it was a pretty icy terrain that day due to the warmer weather earlier in the week and not much new snow. We skied out to the first hut where we had gorgeous blue sky views. We sat outside and had a snack and then headed back down another trail. The curvy downhill was hard…and yes, I fell multiple times, BUT I loved it! Well, not the falling, but the rest of the skiing!! In total we did about 3-4 miles, which was a good start! Then we headed back to Bend to take part in Zwicklemania. Starting at Crux, we visited three more breweries, ending at one of my favorites 10 Barrel where I enjoyed nickel Pub beer and yummy pork sliders, FOR FREE!! That night we walked over to the Winterfest to look at the creative bonfires various artistic welders had made, including a huge dragon and an interestingly anatomically correct heart. We stopped by the main tent for the “headliner” musical artist, but we all agreed it was not the best concert set up. The day was incredibly busy and crazy fun…and there was still more ahead!
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