>No, sorry for the confusion ... Ken's not a pilot, his brother is.

Oh, ok

>Yeah, Bend's weather is probably very similar to Ellensburg ... high desert, cold & yucky in the winter. Hillsboro has a milder winter (for the lurkers here, Hillsboro is a western suburb of Portland), but of course it's wetter, being on the west side of the Cascades. At least that's what I hear ... we've only been here 2 months. <g>
>

Almost. Bend is high desert, cold but not yucky in the winter. Bend gets little rain and the snow storms don't last very long; lots of sunny days. But when you spend 4 hours shoveling snow off the patio and driveway and then wake up the next morning to two more feet it makes you want to just go back to bed till April. Plus the sun comes out and is nice but it turns all that snow to slush. Now you are right; it can be yucky. I loved it for lots of years, but now I just don't tolerate the cold. Speaking of that, it is 35 outside right now and wondering if I should have considered Austin.

Take care
Tim