Last Saturday was my birthday, so John and I spent the evening in Eugene, by ourselves. We wanted to check out the neighborhood our new house is in at night, we wanted to walk around Eugene at night, and we wanted to go out to dinner (since it was my birthday).
Initial thoughts:
- Our new neighborhood is safe and quiet.
- Eugene is DEAD on Saturday nights. It was about 7:30 – not a lot of traffic, no one walking around, and all of the restaurants were at least half-empty. Possible extenuating circumstances: it was February and there was a home basketball game. Dead is not necessarily a bad thing for us. We’re hardly party people. Besides, I’m not sure this was a typical Saturday. And we didn’t stay out late.
- The food is GOOD. We picked a random restaurant after walking around downtown for 20 minutes, as empty as any of them, and had a really good meal. So very different from our experience in Annapolis.
On our way back to the car after dinner, we passed The Eugene Hotel Retirement Center, where hotels go to retire. I think.
The Eugene Hotel Retirement Center is guarded by Doorman Duck.
I like Eugene.
momma betty
It’s hard for me to compare the quiet Eugene of the the night of your birthday with what I associate with Eugene: Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters. Of course, I think the antics of his tripping days and the MPs took place mostly elsewhere–around the SF Bay area. Love the Duck. Definitely not a gooey-duck.
momma betty
I didn’t realize that Eugene is in the Willamette Valley until I looked up Ken Kesey. The southern end. Still, you’ll be in wine country! Great wines. Fun side trips.