The Wall Street Journal has run a recent article about economic hardship in Bend, OR. I'm sure there is some truth to it but the town sure looks busy and happy to these eyes. I saw a couple of businesses closed down, but most of the parking lots looked full. It is a good looking city, if you are willing to put up with somewhat long and cold winters.
Today we drove south from Bend, OR, to northern CA along US 97. Again, several hours of driving through country that is mostly unpopulated. We'd see a small town every 30-40 miles but we passed a lot of empty forest.
Interestingly, Oregon calls this forest "High Desert" because, I suppose, it doesn't get all the rain that the coastal and Willamette Valley parts of Oregon get. To a native Californian who regularly drives across Nevada, it doesn't look like desert at all. Different strokes....
