Days 14-16

Starting Point: Sonoma, CA

Destination: Bend, OR

Miles Driven: 467

Things are getting a bit loose at Ghost on the Highway headquarters. I’ve reached a leg of the tour that I didn’t plan for at the beginning. I’ve been keeping things deliberately loose; planning only a week or even a couple days ahead and generally trying to keep myself open to go where the muse takes me. To me this feels more adventurous but also a bit more humble. After all, when you meticulously plot everything out from the start you forget how easily life can upend reality and tear your plans to shreds.

Thus I wasn’t 100% sure I’d even visit the Northwest when I set out a couple weeks ago, but I’m glad I did. Driving on the I-5 through the Northernmost end of California I could feel the region creep up on me; the landscape getting steeper, the trees getting taller and more dense. It all added up to some warm fuzzy nostalgia.

After a stop in the sleepy (but pretty) logger town of Klamath Falls, I made my way to the Central Oregon tourist hub that is Bend. My very first stop was the legendary Last Blockbuster video store.

For those of you that don’t know, there really is one surviving Blockbuster and it exists in Bend. I can’t describe how surreal it was to walk into the building. It was similar to how I felt when I first saw the petrified wood in Arizona – is this actually real? I walked inside and immediately noticed a sign asking customers not to take photos of employees without their permission. This made me a bit reticent to take photos inside the store in general but trust me when I say it’s cool and it’s just how you remember it.

Well, with one big difference: the centerpiece of the Bend Blockbuster is the multiple racks of commemorate T-shirts, hoodies, hats, trinkets, shot glasses, playing cards, and all sorts of other memorabilia featuring the company’s iconic logo. I myself purchased the following items:

My first impression was that this Blockbuster must survive exclusively on tourism from Millennial hipsters like myself, but the employee behind the counter assured me that’s not the case. Sure they get a ton of traffic from nostalgia pilgrims (particularly in the summertime, when Bend becomes bloated with tourism), but mainly the store has held on thanks to a dedicated community of locals who have kept renting movies for decades. It’s inspiring and a true testament to that city’s character.

Bend is a gorgeous and perfectly-located town, and unfortunately too many people have noticed. The city’s population has nearly doubled in the past 20 years and the signs of gentrification abound. There are sleek, modern-looking housing developments across the landscape as well as the bland, bougie retail stores that always seem to accompany them (Title 9, Lululemon, Banana Republic, etc.)

But there’s a reason so many people move out here: it’s fucking gorgeous. I spent a large chunk of my visit either hanging out by the Deschutes River waterfront park or hiking the region’s vast network of trails. I saw some breathtaking sites and came about as close to serenity as my nervous and feeble mind can hope to achieve.

One hike that stood out was the Trail of the Molten Land. Located in the heart of the Newberry Volcano, this path weaves its way around an area that was charred by molten lava when the volcano exploded 7,000 years ago. It’s wild to see such a barren landscape up close. It’s surreal and spooky, like Mordor except sunnier and less evil.

My two (and a half) days in Bend followed the same routine: I would wear myself out with a big hike in the day then spend the evening taking advantage of Bend’s prolific beer scene. I’m not going to bother to look this up, but the city of Bend must have more craft breweries and brewpubs per capita than anywhere else in the U.S., or at least close. And every local beer and brewery I tried was excellent. This town is truly committed to the art of beer.

But here’s the cruel irony: they don’t give you enough time to drink it. All of the bars and brewpubs (at least the ones I went to) closed at 10 or even earlier. In my home state of Wisconsin (a place that’s equally if not more reverent of beer) this would be unthinkable. Back home every single bar in every single town of any size stays open until 2 AM, no matter what day of the week it is. This is how it should be, but apparently the people of Oregon don’t see the virtues of mass high-grade alcoholism. As a friend of mine who used to live there put it, they drink, but they don’t drink.

But let me just close out by asserting that Bend truly is a wonderful city, easily the best new place I’ve visited thus far. The only reason I wouldn’t move there is a.) I don’t have the funds and b.) That’s the last thing they need.