Blogs from Oregon, United States, North America - page 30

Geo: 44.069, -123.082On Monday Fletcher and Peter spent the day at the Coaches Conference which they found mainly interesting and informative. They had also taken our car back so I was "forced" to have a very lazy day of reading, updating my blog, playing computer games and generally chilling out. That night we returned to Sabai restaurant which has excellent Thai food. Peanut joined us for his last night in Eugene and once again it was very pleasant sitting outside in warm conditions with lovely food and tasty Oregon wine.After a slow morning on Tuesday we headed into the mountains and drove along the McKenzie River. This part of Oregon is stunning. Heavily wooded forests with sparkling clear water. Peter drove us off the main road into sheltered nooks where camping in summer is popular. Some ... read more

We took the Amtrak Coast Starlight train from Seattle to Portland, OR today. This train goes from Vancouver, B.C. to California which includes bi-level coaches and sleeping cars if you are making the journey to CA. Travel speeds are slow compared to the Northeast Corridor. The scenery along the coast was beautiful and we crossed over the Columbia River along the way. Both Union Stations were quite pretty and very clean as compared to what we are used to on the East Coast. We've not been to Portland before and we were pleasantly surprised at the vibrance of the town. We took one of those hop on hop off trolleys for a 2 hour tour of the town, the expansive parks, and the waterfront area where there was a Brewfest event. On the way back to ... read more

Geo: 44.069, -123.082Tuesday was the first day of competition. We arrived at the track about 9-45am ready for the start at 10am.As we walked to the gate we passed the Eugene Bomb Disposal vehicle outside the Warm-up Track. I don't know whether to feel reassured or frightened! The Heptathlon and Decathlon both started today and there were Aussies in both so we were keen to follow them. Cedric Dubler from Queensland had been to the last Oceania Champs so I know him and he is a great young man. He ran a PB in the 100 and followed that up by jumping 7-47m in the Long Jump, a new Championship record for the Decathlon. Cassie Simmons in the Heptathlon also ran a PB in her hurdles, a good start for the team.We were sitting up in ... read more

Geo: 43.4067, -124.223On Friday we woke about 9am having had a great sleep to ward off the jet lag. Peter had contacted Car hire firms but with the Championships on there were few cars to be had. However, we were promised one at 2-30pm with a good deal so agreed to that.During the morning, Peter drove us around Eugene showing us the various tracks and athletics venues. He took us up to Henderson Park and we saw the rock against which Steve Prefontaine crashed his car in 1975. He was a local boy who ran distance and was 4th in the 1972 Olympics in the 10,000 and held every American record from 2,000metre to 10,000. He was a James Dean kind of character and his death was a great shock to all. He is a legend ... read more

Ruth and I were amazed by the variety of landscapes...seaside, river valleys, mountain tops, grasslands, desert. The variety of wildflowers was just amazing, so I've put most of them in a separate blog.... read more