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!