Nice People in Bend (hotel, homes, camping)

[homesteading]

I was just in Bend for a few days and was in awe over how nice everyone was. The people at the hotel were more than helpful, everyone that looked at my son and I smiled and said hi, even the guys pumping gas at the gas station chatted with me... How normal is this? lol Seriously, I want to move from where I am because I have found it exceedingly difficult to make friends, but after just a few days in Bend I am ready to move there ASAP. I love the time we were there!

[kapetrich]

Originally Posted by homesteading

I was just in Bend for a few days and was in awe over how nice everyone was. The people at the hotel were more than helpful, everyone that looked at my son and I smiled and said hi, even the guys pumping gas at the gas station chatted with me... How normal is this? lol Seriously, I want to move from where I am because I have found it exceedingly difficult to make friends, but after just a few days in Bend I am ready to move there ASAP. I love the time we were there!

From my perspective everyone is extremely nice here, too. I am from a north east city so I'm used to short, harsh and to the point people. Also, it doesn't seem like many are out to get over on you and/or trick you like they are back home. Much less posturing.......

That said, I've heard it can be pretty hard to make friends in the PNW in general. Others can speak more to this......but from my own experience, after 3 months, I wouldn't say its the easiest place in the world to make friends, but it definitely hasn't been the hardest for me....not by a long shot (London was...real friends anyway)

People here tend to be active and define themselves by this. Best way I've found to meet others is to get involved whether it be sport, coffee, beer brewing, sking, etc.......things tend to just shift into place after that.

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How old are you, Homesteading? What type of activities do you enjoy? Are you outdoorsy?

[homesteading]

I am 36 and my son is 2. I liked hiking, camping and fishing before I moved to Europe and now that we're back I really want to find some outdoor activities we can do together. Probably not fishing. haha. I doubt we'll try snowboarding this year because of his age, but probably next year.

I'd love to find a yoga class when I get there, and would LOVE to get some recommendations for good child care!

A great deal of my interests have to do with metaphysics. I am an intuitive counselor/life coach, psychic, medium. I also do metalsmithing. But few of my friends have these interests too and I'm ok with that.

I totally understand what you mean about making friends. When I left Germany I moved to Boise and loved how polite people were, especially compared to Germany!! But it has been hard to make NEW friends. Generally, I tell people what I do for a living and they never call me again. Ha! I'm not crazy, I'm just psychic... lol

Really looking forward to being in a new place where I don't have preconceived negative ideas about what it's going to be like.

[Xanathos]

Everybody is nice in Central Oregon (I mean, with exceptions). I have no idea why, but it was one of the main reasons I stayed there as long as I did. I certainly wasn't staying because of all the things to do or the culture or the nightlife or the reasonable cost of living, since the area fails in every aspect on that front. It was a breath of fresh air in that regard. Not enough to make me wanna stay any longer than I did, but nice.

[delta07]

We've lived in Bend for just over 2 years and managed to make a few good friends here. For us, we found Bend easier to make friends than where we moved from in Western Colorado. However, I think it has to do with the effort you put into it. Kapetrich is right, Bend is a very active community and it's easier to make friends if you have that in common. I do like to hike and ski, but I'm not nearly at the extreme level many of the Bend residents are. However, I think there are other things in this community that you can find. You will definitely find a good yoga studio, as Bend seems to have a plethora to choose from. Bend also had a pretty decent arts community for our size. As Xanthos stated, he didn't stay for the culture, but I think it depends on your definition of culture. Again, coming from Western Colorado, Bend certainly has more culture (art, music, food) than what we had. I think you would find it comparable to, and maybe slightly better, than Boise.

The biggest obstacle to your move could be employment. Unless you are bringing your job with you, it may be difficult to find something. It's possible, but hard.