As some of you may remember, Animated Meat first came to life in 2008 as a way to document some sights that managed to slip through the cracks of most popular travel websites. You may also remember that the original website was built on Apple's now defunct iWeb. From there, it migrated over to WordPress where it met an untimely demise at the hands of Russian hackers. Many of those old, pre-2012 entries have found a new home here in the Before the Now section. I would consider these posts as my starting place as a writer, probably comparable to a musician's first demo tapes. They are very rough, but I took them all seriously and wrote each one with passion. While I would like to believe that I have matured in my abilities as a writer, it is my hope that I carry this same blind passion into all of my new efforts.

Old St. Francis School Hotel - Originally Published 2009

March 24, 2019

One of the down things about Bend is that it gets hot. We made a feeble attempt to ride our bikes next to the Deschutes River only to find out that right around one o’clock, the sun is like a laser. Thankfully McMenamin’s was a welcome refuge.

This place is a one-stop shop if you plan on visiting Bend. They have a hotel complete with cabins, a pub, a restaurant, and a theater. The McNenamin’s company has several other locations built in historic sites scattered all over the Pacific Northwest.