Bend, OR

A reinvented logging town populated by skateboarding students, Cali refugees, and athletes-in-training (all of whom care deeply about what they eat and where it comes from—the closer, the better), Bend is experiencing a flood of locavore dining and nouveau food carts. But the area's crowning jewel is located just 22 miles west, rising out of the Deschutes National Forest: solitary Mt. Bachelor. It’s a challenging ski area: 3,683 acres of exhilarating, windswept runs with a 3,365-foot vertical drop.

Stay: The boutiquey Oxford Hotel (from $179; www.oxfordhotelbend.com) puts you in the heart of downtown’s buzzy small-plates scene—and one of the stars is the hotel’s own 10 Below restaurant.

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