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3 things in Bend that sound illegal, but aren’t (we swear!)

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Sometimes you feel like being rebellious. Maybe you want to tear the tag off your pillow, or you find yourself scurrying across the street with only four seconds left on the crosswalk timer.

If you’d like to highlight your Bend vacation with something that sounds naughty but won’t get you arrested, here are a few activities to add to your list.

 

Strip off your clothes in a brewery

Tackling the whole Bend Ale Trail wearing nothing but your birthday suit will probably land you in jail, but there’s one stop along the way that will let you come pretty close to that.

The saltwater soaking pool at McMenamins is a great place to soak your bones after a long day of play.

 

At McMenamins Old St. Francis School, there’s a beautiful tile soaking pool just waiting for you to strip down and slip into its warm, silky depths. You can’t go completely nekkid, but you can don your favorite bikini or swim trunks and enjoy your soak while sipping a tasty McMenamins beer.

The pool is quite literally a work of art, with shimmering turquoise tile, luminous stained glass, breathtaking murals, and an open-air ceiling that lets you check out the night sky. It’s filled with soft, buoyant saltwater, which makes for an environmentally friendly soak. You can visit the pool daily from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. for the general public, or between 7 a.m. to midnight if you’re staying on property. Check the website for fees and info about when you can take the kiddos and when it’s an adult-only affair.

Then you can sit there with your plastic mug of Terminator and enjoy the thought of all those happy families having dinner just down the hall from where you’re soaking your half-clad bod.

Nab stuff that doesn’t belong to you in the forest

If you’re intrigued by the idea of slinking around the woods in search of treasure hidden by someone else, geocaching might be your thing.

Geocaching participants use a GPS or mobile device to hide and seek containers all over the world. The caches typically include little trinkets or toys tucked inside a waterproof container, along with a logbook where participants can enter their date and code name. Find a box, snatch a goodie, replace it with a goodie of your own, and voila—you’re geocaching! It’s a free, fun form of guilt-proof stealing. You can learn more about geocaches around Oregon here.

Want to try it with a little hand-holding from the pros? Wanderlust Tours offers A GPS Eco-Challenge Tour that’s perfect for groups of eight or more people. It’s a mix of geocaching, The Amazing Race, and something the Riddler from Batman might devise. It’s perfect for corporate groups, a scouting troop, a pack of students, or a couple families that want to have fun. The tour is $65 per person and includes all your gear and transportation, plus any bootie you swipe out there in the woods. To learn more, go here.

 

Drink beer while biking

If you’ve journeyed to Bend recently, odds are good you’ve seen a nifty bike/bar hybrid from CyclePub. The crazy contraption lets participants pedal and swill beer at the same time, and pretty much every time I explain it to someone, they ask me, “how on earth is that legal?”

The answer is that you have a sober, trained captain provided by CyclePub who’s steering and driving the whole thing. Think of it like a limo you might hire to drive you around while you sip champagne. Then picture something a whole lot cooler that actually lets you burn off those beer calories by pedaling all over town.

While you might see CyclePub spinoffs in other cities, it’s worth noting that the one in Bend allows you to drink beer while the bike is in motion. That’s not the case with the laws in many other spots, so enjoy that perk while you’re here. There are other strict rules about how alcohol can be handled and transported, so consult their FAQ page for details.

 

GIVEAWAY!!!

Want a chance to pedal and guzzle for free? We have a gift certificate for a free two-hour tour for six on the Cycle ‘Round bike from CyclePub. It expires May 31, 2015, so you have to be able to use it before that date. For a chance to win, confess in the comments with something naughty you’ve done that you’re willing to admit publicly. We’ll pick a winner on Tuesday, April 14!

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