We arrived in Eugene with our bikes in tow, met their cute dog Olive, and were soon on our way up over the hill between Erik and Natalie's house and downtown Eugene. We were on our way to an annual outdoor festival in Eugene - this years theme was "I dream of Eugenie". Nate spotted 8-10 turkeys just hanging out in someone's yard on our ascent up the hill....good to know they're here...And as it turns out, the hill we were biking up was the same hill that U of O running legend Steve Prefontaine died on in a car crash in 1975. We found the 'Pre' memorial and looked at the funny assortment of stuff people had left there to commemorate him.
Arriving in downtown Eugene, we parked our bikes, bought our wrist bracelets, and promptly regretted not having the camera with us. Eugene is a mecca for crazy people of all sorts - imagine the funniest looking person you've ever seen on the street, multiply his/her attire by 10 and that's most of the people at this festival. It was the best people-watching EVER. Many had taken this year's theme to heart and were sporting some sort of 'genie' look...
We found our way to one of the music stages and were rewarded with a good beer tent selection (Miller Lights were $5, just like the other 4 local micro-brewery options) and a crazy, fun band called
Hillstomp (check them out at www.hillstomp.com) - two guys who are self-described as bluegrass/blues/punk. They wailed and sang and strummed their hearts out for a while and we continued to have fun listening to them and watching passers-by.Minor car troubles (fixed now) prevented us from doing a big hike like we planned on Sunday, so instead I made some apple butter from the still-plentiful apple tree. We plan to do a hiking/camping trip in the Cascades with Natalie and Erik this weekend, and we look forward to a visit from our good friend Brian next weekend!
