A brief stop in Eugene

Home of the University of Oregon and home of our friends Mary & Wayne and their daughter Monica. We last saw Mary and Wayne in 2003 in Flagstaff, when we abandoned our truck and trailer at their house for the winter while we swanned off to Australia and New Zealand. I can't believe almost 20 years has passed but as with all good friendships, it only seems like yesterday we last drank wine, walked in the woods and shared our despair at populist right wing politicians. We managed a good couple of sessions comparing the relative non-merits of their recent and our current leader. But for now, I won't go there. Well, except to note that the liberal, social democratic image of Oregon is I now understand largely confined to the western, Pacific coast side. The interior, eastern part of the state, is so different that 24 of the 30 or so counties have actually petitioned to secede from Oregon and join Idaho! Being republican it would be much more to their liking. Ah, the joys of local politics. So much for my somewhat generalised image of the pacific states. I am guessing, even if not so extreme, that similar views are held in eastern Washington and probably California too. But I am wise enough not to ask.

In between (and while) discussing such matters, we strolled the rather pretty riverside of Eugene by the university campus, checking out the magnificent Owen Cherry Tree, now 135 years old and having to be propped up in its old age - bit like me!

Then up to Skinner Butte for evening views of the city.

We walked the Fox Hollow Trail - they may have fewer trails than in the UK, but they definitely have better names - and stopped off for inevitable coffee and pastries at the Hideaway Bakery. Too busy scoffing to take a picture.

We resisted the temptation to shoot and cook one of the apparently many wild turkeys found around here. Wayne and Mary once counted 35 of these buggers in their yard. Could have made a fortune come thanksgiving!

Friday night in Portland passed in a haze of excellent food and excess wine. I feel slightly guilty that I saw little of Portland, more the insides of a couple of bars and a restaurant. But we did manage an early Saturday morning walk along the Willamette River which was peaceful and easy going. And ended at a coffee shop - funny that. This of course is the night before in a brilliant restaurant called LeChon, a South American eatery, popular with the hip and trendy. But they let us in anyway.

It has been fabulous catching up with so many friends and we are ready for some new adventures. We have a few old haunts to see, like Redwood National Park, but many new places to go. Nareesa has never been down the coastal Route 1 from San Francisco via Monterey and Big Sur. Neither of us has been to Sequoia National Park or Kings Canyon. And at some point we will have to turn east and eventually back north to re-enter Canada sometime in May. But that seems ages away. For now we are still heading south...