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Sunday, August 14, 2016

A Week in Eugene, OR

We've made brief stops in Eugene, OR before but never in the RV, so this time we decided to give the city a good once over by spending a week at Armitage County Park. We had some very warm days during our stay, fortunately the real heat of the day didn't settle in until after 2pm most days so we had whole mornings for our outdoor explorations.

Eugene is an extremely bike friendly town and we really enjoyed our 15 mile loop ride on the Ruth Bascom Riverbank Path System. This paved path follows the Willamette River through the heart of the city, including parts of the University of Oregon campus.


This is one of several bike and pedestrian bridges that cross the Willamette River.


Vibrant mural on the UofO campus.

The Owen Rose Garden was adjacent to the trail. (Bikes must be walked through here.)

This magnificent Black Tartarian Cherry tree is about 170 years old.

More art along the Ruth Bascom Trail.

We took a scenic drive on highway 58 to Oakridge, OR one day, stopping along the way to play the excellent Dexter Park Disc Golf course, one of the top four courses in Oregon.

We scared a flock of geese at the first basket overlooking Dexter Reservoir.

A couple of holes were through dense forest, we learned it was important to have a spotter out front so we didn't waste too much time hunting for our discs!

Continuing our drive along highway 58 we came upon a couple of the covered bridges that Oregon is famous for.

Lowell covered bridge crosses Dexter Reservoir.
Built in 1945, the bridge is closed, the road bypasses it.

Office covered bridge is the longest in the state at 180 feet.

From the Office a fine view of the North Fork of the Middle Fork of the Willamette River.

Check out this cool rig we saw near the covered bridge, it's a small trailer placed on a flatbed.
This is one heavy duty looking camping set up owned by a couple from BC and their two large dogs!

Though Oakridge, OR is not much to look at (lots of empty buildings in their downtown district) it is a mountain biking and winter sports destination. We stopped for a beer at Brewers Union Local 180 where we met a couple of guys who had just completed a 6 day mountain bike trip from Bend, OR! Brewers Union is a cute little pub with some tasty brews and good looking food (we did not eat there).

One of many murals in downtown Springfield, OR.

We played another round of disc golf at a park closer to Eugene: Stewart Pond Disc Golf course. We enjoyed how well this course was marked and that most of the fairways were pretty clear so it would be difficult to lose a disc. This course could be mucky and full of mosquito's during the wet season.

Stewart Pond disc golf course is a mixture of open meadows and forest.

A stay in Eugene would not be complete without a visit to the Eugene Saturday Market. There was a bounty of unique and beautiful handcrafted art and clothes and jewelry and eye catching summer produce. Chantal and James drove up from Roseburg and met us for a stroll around the market then lunch.

These gorgeous tomatoes caught Hans eye...but we did not buy any because Chantal brought us some of her heirloom bounty!


Excellent beer and deli sandwiches at Falling Sky Brew Pub.

I didn't even take photos of the nice little hike we took on the Ridgeline Trail System, the good beer, food and music one evening at Sprout Regional Food Hub in Springfield, or the fun dinner we had with fellow RVers Rusty and Tony, but it's easy to see our stay in Eugene was full of good times.

Today we move on to Champoeg State Park less than two hours north and just outside of Portland, OR. Unfortunately the hot weather continues; it's a good thing we'll have full hookups!

14 comments:

  1. What a great week Lisa and Hans. We have never played disc golf...it looks fun. Hiking , biking, farmers market and brews & yummy food sounds perfect! Hope your foot is better.

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  2. Looks like a great week! I love the bridges. Disc golf looks fun!

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  3. Love the Springfield mural and farmer's market. Hope it cools down a bit for you. Full hookups...ahhhhh!

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  4. Love love that wonderful cherry tree. What a beautiful shape. I wonder if it still has cherries?
    What a mural that is with the giant bookshelves. I've never seen anything like it. I do love covered bridges. That first one looks like it doesn't go quite all the way across. Is it my eyes or has the water widened? Great post. Sorry for the heat. It seems to be everywhere but maybe Canada. What will we ever do if we run out of energy for air conditioning?

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  5. One of the nice things about the lack of humidity is that the day doesn't heat up quite as quickly. Glad you were able to enjoy the early part of the day outside before it got too warm. We stayed in Salem for our lengthy visit and just made a day trip to Eugene. I like the looks of that bike path...nice loop:)

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  6. The bright murals along the trail and delightful, but that big one in Springfield is amazing!! Thought of you two at the disc golf course in Adrian, MN - had never seen anyone play before that. Cool mornings sound wonderful - as does lower humidity. Those peppers a so beautiful - and yummy too I bet.

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  7. That looks like a great town. We want to spend more time in Oregon, for sure.

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  8. may have to check out those disc courses since I think we may be passing thru Eugene

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  9. We loved Eugene, Armitage Park (where we could throw our kayak into the water), and the amazing farmers' market. The covered bridges in OR fascinated us. Thanks for showing us some of the smaller burbs around Eugene. Would love to go back there someday.

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  10. Eugene is a great town. I ran the marathon there a few years ago. It followed a wonderful bike path along the Willamette River. And they also have lots of great brewpubs (which I'm sure you already knew!)

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  11. So fun to have a week in Eugene! We always enjoy our stays there, and try to time it so that we can take advantage of the wonderful Saturday market. We love that bike trail and spend a lot of time on it when we're there—you got some terrific photos of the murals! Hope you get some cooler weather for your time in Portland.

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  12. That tall handsome mural looked like Hans, I did not know he is sort of famous at Springfield, OR. I would love to see those murals and you took great pictures of them.
    We only spent three days in Eugene back in 2012, now that you had a good time there we should stay there for a week this fall.

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  13. Where did u find the vibrant mural exactly on the u of o campus??

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    1. I remember we road our bikes past the Urban Farm on campus and it was somewhere near there. Maybe on one of the operations buildings???

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