Blogs from Eugene, Oregon, United States, North America - page 3

On Sunday we surrendered the lofty redwoods of California and continued north on Highway 101 into Oregon to greet gigantic rock formations rising up from the Pacific. Beyond North Bend we encountered huge sand dunes that rose above the ocean, until we turned inland at Florence, following a winding, narrow, two-lane highway through the dense, lush-green, forested, Coastal Range. As we drove into the Willamette Valley we saw significant haze from a forest fire which started in the Three Sisters Wilderness area September 9th. Due to warm, dry weather, the fire has burned more than 26,000 acres sending smoke and haze from the mountains down the river valley into Eugene. By October 3rd, the fire is 85% contained (http://inciweb.org/incident/3244/), but will continue to produce smoke. Our new lodgings in Eugene turned out to be a charming ... read more

September 22, 2012 Infinity is now some west of Eugene, Oregon. After dark last night we passed into the Pacific Ocean from the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which our captain pronounced as the Strait of Juan de “Fook”. He is Italian and rumor has it once worked for Costa Cruise Lines; that is the cruise line of the infamous Costa Concordia which lies on its side off the coast of Italy many months after hitting a rock. So as Nancy’s sister said, “I guess we’re fooked”. Time will tell. The Pacific is remarkably “pacific”. There was only a slight breeze during the night and the water very calm. I took my usual walk at dawn on the walking/running track on deck 11. The track was being used by only a few early risers so that ... read more

After camping and a couple weeks of soaking up boy time I decided to go back down to Eugene and stay with Caitlin in her spare room, aka the Diva Den. My plan was to enjoy a retreat/cleanse week and some Girl Time! Don’t get me wrong, the boy time was incredibly fun. I realized my affinity for hanging with boys probably stems from my upbringing with two older brothers. Oh how I reminisced about my childhood, longing for the random adventures my brothers and I used to have, missing them terribly, only to realize that it will never be like that again. Moment of silence please. : D OKAY. After getting my fill of rock climbing, enjoying home cooked meals inspired by their Paleo diets, wrestling, liar's dice, whiskey and even having them fold my ... read more

From Ashland I made a last minute layover in Eugene for two nights. My ride was dropping someone off in Eugene on our way to Portland, so instead of sticking with my original route I decided to jump ship in Eugene and rendezvous with my Loves. I landed at Caitlin and Deven’s house to unwind for a few hours while Cait finished school. I picked her up and off we went for a late birthday celebration and ladies night out on the town! The next day Cait didn’t have class, so we decided to have a full day of fun activities. We took Ginny and went for a long hike/walk/run through one of my favorite parks in Eugene, made brunch, gave ourselves facials, then followed that up with wine tasting in the Willamette Valley. Deven came ... read more

I got my car back today! After two days in one place, I finally had the freedom of the open road, wind in my hair and scenery passing by. That was the longest non-deliberate break on the trip, and driving once again is a rush. The road trip has really sunk in by this point. I have to hope the desire leaves again before the end, or going home is going to be really painful. Today’s main objective is to make up the damage that break did to my schedule. In the original plan, I would spend days driving down the coast to the very southern part of Oregon. Instead, I had to cram it all into one long day, barreling down the interstate. The first part goes through the Willamette Valley. Except for the views ... read more