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. 

On to Eugene, Oregon

We woke up this morning to the sound of rain, not a good sign. Fortunately this day involves more train travel than biking. However, the rain might have been foreshadowing for things to come. 

Instructions had been left from Bess and Brian about putting the dogs outside once we were on our way. So we decided to first take a walk about the Green Lake area, have a coffee/ tea and buy food for our 7 hour train ride and then return to our Warm Showers stay to pack our bikes for the next part of our holiday.  

You can see it was a nice place to stay.

Bright kitchen.

On our way back as we walked under some big maple trees, crows were going crazy. We assumed they had nests there. One actually attacked me with its claws landing in my hair. No damage but sure scared the hell out of me. 

As we arrived back at the house, the question came up, "Did we take the house key?" No, Bess says they rarely lock their door. Well this time the door had locked behind us. We tried the kitchen door, the basement door and could see the dogs inside. This is not good. We did however find a dog door. It is amazing what you can do when you have to. Yes I crawled through the dog door! It worked. We got, got our bags, locked the dogs out and were able to continue our adventure. 

We biked the 10 km into downtown Seattle. Now this is not high on my list of holiday favourites. But I did it. The hardest part was the last half a kilometre where the bike lane was on the left on a one way street. It means I can't see any cars with my rear view mirror, passengers open their doors right in your pathway without thinking and cars trying to park stop right in front of you without looking. And of course there are traffic lights that sometimes Norm makes and I am left behind. I must say I feel more confident every day now.

We rewarded ourselves with a quick look at Pinoneer Square where a music performance was happening.

A little damp.

Firefighter sculpture.

Before getting on the train we had the best lunch yet at Cafe Umbria and watched the Netherlands beat Spain! Yeah!

Even the spoon was classy and the olives, so yummy. 

On the Amtrak to Eugene at 2 and arrived at almost 9. Yellow Bunny I think enjoyed the ride. 

Here is what a train ride dinner looks like. Not as classy as lunch but sure tastes good when you're hungry. 

So we are now in our second Warm Showers stay. It is close to the train station. Feels comfortable and tomorrow we check out the market. 

Exploring Seattle

We had the best sleep last night. Maybe the day of biking might have had something to do with it but the accommodation at our Warm Showers stay was perfect, our own bathroom and bedroom. Bess and Brian left for work leaving us to help ourselves to breakfast and then find our way downtown by bus. First stop, coffee for Norman at the Razor Cafe just a couple of blocks away. The sign said they served beer, coffee, wine and breakfast. Interesting way to start your day.

And the decor was different. Photo booth, juke box, music stage, sofas, and fascinating things on the walls. Loved it! 

Norm eating his eggs Benedict without the hollandaise sauce, but lots of melted cheddar, called a faux Benedict. 

We caught the bus into Seattle, stopped at REI to see what new outdoor adventure items we really didn't need. However Norm convinced me to buy a hat. You can never have too many hats??

The hubcap sculpture was on a construction on Capitol Hill, a funky neighbourhood with lots of students, pubs, parks and cafés. Love the art work along the way. 

And of course the lady in blue. 

Good way to get an appetite is by walking and looking at books. We have to remember that we are on bicycles and also Powell's Books in Portland awaits us. 

Here we are at Elliott Bay Books, a fine place for browsing but perhaps not for buying -- we're on bikes with limited room for stuff, especially heavy books. Lunch followed at the Oddfellows cafe next door. Red quinoa, beet and feta salad for me and Norman had a chicken salad sandwich. Both delicious. 

You can't go to Seattle and not check out Pike Place Market. We were surprised just how many people were there today. Lots of action, crowds, vendors and the occasional weird person. Can you see Norman in the yellow hat, under the letter E?

The market has some great items for sale, many people waiting to see the "flying fish" (the guys at one fish seller throw the whole salmon through the air, sometimes a rubber owne right at a surprised tourist) but especially amazing are the flowers.

We bussed back to the university district to our Warm Showers home to be greeted by Coco and Tyler who loved Yellow Bunny.

We finished the evening by taking Bess to the Latona Pub for dinner.

We liked it all. Will come back and hope they visit us one day. Tomorrow there's a train ride to Eugene, Oregon and new Warm Showers host.

Our first Warm Showers stay - Seattle

The Commander's Beach House was an okay place to spend the night. The morning view was beautiful. 

However the breakfast of caramel apples, zucchini mushroom quiche, peach cinnamon muffin and a piece of ham left a lot to be desired. 

It wasn't quite the gourmet meal advertised on their brochure. We were off to catch the ferry to Whidbey Island by 10:00. 

A short ferry ride and we were on the road just after 11:00 biking the island to Mukilteo on the mainland. Like all Gulf/San Juan islands there are so many hills and it was hot today, really hot. I applied sunscreen twice to try to get some protection. As we biked Whidbey, who knew we would have lunch at Timbuktu?  Middle of no where and yummy. 

Check the interior decor. Think his wife shopped at Michael's. 

We arrived just in time (2:00) to catch the next ferry, Kittitas, to Mukilteo. And then we starting biking up ( a long way up) the Mukilteo Speedway (it's a regular highway, but yes, they call it a speedway). I had suggested to Norman that taking a bus was a 

possibility. He didn't think that was such a good idea. How would it look to show up at our hosts and not be on our bicycles? So onwards we went then off a side road, less busy, then after many looks at the iPad and checking city maps, Norm discovered a bike path that used to be an interurban streetcar line! So nice! And no traffic. Here is some art work seen along the one of the paths. These are old stop and traffic signs made into rats, birds,raccoons and squirrels. Amazing and fun. 

We got lost a few times, had help from fellow bikers to find the right way and after almost 80 kms we arrived at our first Warm Showers home stay by 6:15! 

Not only are Bess and Brian nice people but they greeted us with cold water, appetizers of crackers, cheese and apples. I showered, so rewarding to wash off the salt and sweat. Then we sat down to a dinner of stir fry, brown rice, tossed salad and wine. This is nice! 

We are near the university and there is a sense of community here. We like it here. Tomorrow we are going to bus to town, check out Capital Hill and maybe the university district. One more night here then train to Eugene. 

New trip, new adventures - Victoria to Port Townsend

We woke up this morning to the sound of rain! Fortunately the weather turned out to be perfect for biking. We had the wind at our back, sunshine all afternoon and a beer waiting for Norman at the end of the trail. Yellow Bunny got to have a bunny eye view of the trip this time, riding at the front of the bike. She loves it! 

Check out Yellow Bunny on the Coho.

We caught the Coho to Port Angeles at 10:30 am and while boarding met Dave and Ann Mathers also on bikes. I taught with Dave at Belmont. What fun to spend the hour and half talking travels, biking , walking tours and plans for the next holiday. 

Once in Port Angeles we said good bye to Dave and Ann who planned to bike all the way to Port Townsend and are much faster than us but planned to see them for dinner.

The bike path to Sequim was so nice, like the Goose but paved all the way. One of the signs I saw along the way said Speed Zone - Walk, Jog, Trot. ( or bike). Another interesting sign and I think Norm might bring it up at the next Metchosin Council meeting, was a memorial out house or porta pottie. Instead of providing a memorial bench when some one dies, there was a portable toilet for use for one year in memory of a loved one. Neat eh! 

But one of the more interesting sites was the crew clearing the sides of the trail. As you can see the path was beautiful and well forested.

We had to slow down for the Chain Gang who were cutting down trees, trimming branches then putting them through a chipper. There must have been a dozen men doing the job. I thought of taking a picture but when I saw the supervisors with guns on their hips and then Norm points out that the men all have shackles on their legs, I think taking a photo is not a good idea. I think in is my first real chain gang! 

Other sites along the way - art work? 

Bird houses and more . 

We crossed some really nice creeks and rivers. This is the Dungeness river. 

Cool old railway bridge.

We made it to Se quim by 2:30, found a Starbucks and figured out where to catch a bus to Port Townsend. Biking was an option but it would have been another 50km and this is our first day so we thought it best to work our way slowly back in to 5 hours of biking. By 4:30 we were on the bus along with two bikes in the aisle since the  triple bike rack was full, one blue eyed dog owned by a somewhat intoxicated man (at the front with a black and white dog) and few other interesting locals. We felt right at home.

We met up with Dave and Ann for dinner at Sirens for beer and burgers. They had an excellent ride all the way, about 5 hours. 

We are now relaxing at the Commander's Beach House, a B&B right on the beach. It is a Cape Cod style house only two blocks to town, part of an old Coast Guard station. 

A sweet room with at least 10 pillows on the bed but amazing views of the water. 

Tomorrow Seattle via Whidbey Island.