Eugene and Springfield

We took Sue, our Warm Showers host, for breakfast at the Morning Glory Cafe. They serve good, wholesome, vegetarian meals. I started the day with oatmeal, Norm had French Toast and Sue, Baked Apple with gemosia, sesame paste? 

This is a picture from last time we came through Eugene and only had a few hours before catching a train to Portland. 

Next the famous Eugene Saturday market. It is huge. Lots of farm products, many crafts, jewelry, lots of tie dye and everything in between. 

How can you resist this guy? 

The produce is so fresh. We couldn't resist a basket of strawberries to eat as we walked. And the hippies....

Truly a tie dyed Mecca.

We tried to find the old funky part of Eugene without much success. Norm always on the lookout for old postcards and of course a good cup of coffee. Lunch was turkey rice soup, raspberry muffin and pasta salad. Delish! 

Some days it seems like all we do is eat. Maybe that was the case today but tomorrow we will bike it off. And today we decided to walk about five miles to Springfield, that counts as exercise. A wonderful path along the Willamette river. 

The pathway was ours, barely another person to be seen. Norm is dwarfed beside the huge cedar.

We finally arrived in Springfield. Eugene has the university and Springfield has more of the working class. Even Yellow Bunny was impressed with who she found living there. (The black spots on their cheeks are Os, of course, for University of Oregon. In this Springfield, the family are Ducks fans.)

The bus got us back to Eugene quicker than walking. Just in time to think about dinner. Yes, time to eat again. We decided to have fun and went to the Party Downtown. A restaurant very similar to Stage in Victoria. We ordered six dishes, all so different. There were mushroom sliders with spicy chilli paste, a pork roll that looked like a cinnamon bun, an arugula sald with fresh raspberries and beets, vinda loo, salami with blue cheese and pickled strawberries and gnocchi bolognese! 

Oh and two glasses of wine.

But wait there is more....right next door is homemade ice cream. I had beet ice cream with chocolate pieces and Norm, a hot fudge sundae with coffee ice cream, smoked almonds, whipped cream and a sour cherry on top! 

What a day of food! As we headed home we couldn't resist joining in with the parents taking grad pictures. Love the purple.

Tomorrow we start biking towards Portland, less eating more moving. First stop Coburg then Corvallis.