Places to go when you're bored in Eugene

Hendricks Park

2008-05-16T20:53:00.000-07:00

Grade:
A
Length:
About 3x4 blocks roughly
Difficulty:
Easy, old ladies in wheelchairs were managing parts of it

So, I didn't wander the trails much. The thing about Hendricks is that the best part is the crazy flower garden and the best time to go is right around (or precisely on) Mothers day. At that point is so in bloom even a guy like me, who doesn't really have any interest in flowers, is impressed. These picts were from the Monday after Mother's Day.

These are flowers

Here is a rule post...

There is Spencer's Butte in the distance.

It was pretty sunny and hot on the day i went so some of the flowers are wilted and a lot of my pictures are over exposed. I just use a little 6.1 Megapixel Kodak Z760. All the Cannon and Nikon users snub me when they aren't to busy snubbing each other.

Motorcycle parking for the win...always an open spot and tow trucks usually ignore them. Meter maids do not...how I loath them.

This is Pre's rock. I think that's what it's called. It where he crashed his MGB anyway. If you look on the map up top there I marked the spot with a green dot.

Still a lot of people coming to pay tribute. Look at all this stuff! Lots of running shoes and bibs from races. I wonder if there will be a crowd up there during the Olympic Trials.

Now, here is the view from up above the hillside. It's marked by the purple dot on the map. You can't park here but you can park below and walk back up. Be careful though.

Eugene Masonic Cemetery

2008-03-03T09:23:00.000-08:00

Grade:
B
Length:
About a 1/2 square block
Difficulty:
Moderate, depends if it's muddy.

http://www.eugenemasoniccemetery.org/

So, I think this is what it says:

Point of the Hills School
N.E. Corner University and 25 Ave. site of the first school in Eugene area, erected by Fielden McMurry on his O.L.D. farm in early 1850, a school taught by Miss Sarah AnnMoore of the Gormen areacame daily by horse back
Lane County Historical Society 1959

Looking from the road

Yeah, I saw dogs off leash. Stupid hippies can't keep their dogs leashed.

Looking back at the shiny new entrance.

This place was a disaster before they started restoring it. People have been buried in it all along, I don't know why it wasn't kept up.

There are these little signs all over the place telling the stories of the people buried here.

Here's the map...not a very good picture.

Sign talking about the guy who designed the Mausoleum

and here is the Mausoleum. It's open once a month. Last Sunday I think. They also had an art exibit here...that seems odd, but then it's Eugene so whatever.

This is where you can spread ashes. It doesn't seem like a good place to me. I'd rather have my ashes shot out of a cannon. I know a group that would to it as well.

Looks like this part isn't restored yet. I'm not a big fan of being buried on an eroding hillside.

Top of the hill.

Skinner family headstone

And here is where Eugene is buried.

Click the picture and read this. Very interesting story of Jeff Smith. He found out he had a tumor that was going to make him insane so he made the decision to end his own life.

Here is his huge family headstone.

Look out graveyard partiers! Neighborhood watch in effect.

This is the Whiteaker crypt. I thought it was a storage shed. John Whiteaker was the first governor of Oregon. He has a neighborhood named after his family in town, he used to own the whole thing. From what I understand it's a good place to find prostitues and drugs now.

Bow fishing in the Amazon Slough

2008-02-14T14:01:00.000-08:00

I did not know you could do this. Not my video, I found it on the Youtubes while searching for Eugene

Where do I find a list of all the parks in Eugene?

2008-02-14T09:45:00.001-08:00

Why, right HERE

Riverside trail

2008-02-13T16:53:00.000-08:00

Grade:
A
Length:
About 12 miles
Difficulty:
Easy on a bike, all pretty flat.

When you get here go straight. It looks like you are going to go south after the turn but it's just an S turn.

Oh, look! a nice grassy area to rest, and no spike lined fence...

...oh wait.

Alsea Falls

2006-09-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

Grade:
A-
Length:
44 miles from Eugene, 30 minutes to walk the main loop
Difficulty:
Easy - I don't recomend taking your dog onto the falls themself though.

Let me tell you something, The BLM doesn't want you to know about the cool places they are hiding.The have a website with zero information.

This is the best Google Map I could get. It's WAY out in BFE.

Here's an excellent picture when the falls are a bit more wild by someone named Brandi Alexander. She takes a lot of excellent pictures actually. I have no idea who she is but I thought I'd give her a plug.

Behind Laurelwood

2006-07-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

Grade:
C+
Length:
30 minutes...it kind of meanders though. You could burn a couple hours back there if you got lost. I'm not sure why you'd want to though
Difficulty:
It's a bit steep and the trails are tight. I wouldn't want to do it when drunk and convincing my girlfriend it's a good idea to camp on a golf course...but I'm sure many have.

Mt. Baldy

2006-07-12T18:01:00.000-07:00

-------------------------------------

Grade:
B+
Length:
1 hour or so, depends if you have to walk both ways
Difficulty:
Pretty steep and it's also a Mt. Bike trail on some parts so you have to be ready to jump out of the way

See it now! Soon to be developed into McMansions!

Eugene Hail Storm 5/21/06

2006-05-22T22:05:00.000-07:00

A little out of theme here, please forgive the transgression. We had one hell of a storm yesterday. I often visit a Eugene-centric Livejournal site and one of the members managed to grab this video. Pretty good discussion about it here. Nickle sized hail when it hit our house. Quarter-sized when it hit Sweethome.

Skinner's Butte

2006-05-22T19:49:00.000-07:00

Grade:
B+
Length:
10 minutes to walk to the top
Difficulty:
Cake

Advice: If you see a van a'rockin' do not, under any circumstances, go a'knockin', the same goes if you see any vehicles billowing smoke clouds.

NOTE: The sources I have gone through list both Skinner Butte and Skinner's Butte as correct. I like to call it Skinny's. You do what you like.

My digital camera does not take good video, lesson learned. Still, this is the veiw of Eugene.

So I started at the bottom of the trail on the North side. It's a very pretty trail and since it had rained the day before it smelled great.

There are two spots with these railings...I'm not sure if they are for sitting or shoe tying or what.

This is almost at the top. Very cool looking tree.

This is a block of cement made in 1851...

It says:

August 1851, center line of First St. established
by Eugene Skinner and Judge D.M. Risdon

I'm kind of confused why it's sitting at the very top of of the butte...
Notice my dog made it into the picture 3 times

Picnic table with empty beers and an Army man...

This was a big reservior until 1971...I guess they filled it in then. It's a nice field now.

90 degrees right from the last picture. The parking lot on top of the butte where all the kids smoke the "marajuana." Half the cars up here had people bowling-up in them. At night they are replaced by people making out and what the kids call "gettin' jiggy." Damn crazy kids and their jungle music.

This is the "O". In days gone past it was painted yellow for the UofO and then when it came time for the civil war games OSU students would come down and paint it orange. Then a bunch of UofO students would paint it back. Last time it was painted orange it stayed that way for months because no one gave a damn. The UofO isn't really about school spirit. Admittedly you can no longer see the "O" from town because the trees have grown up around it so maybe no one noticed it was orange. I think OSU gave up painting it.

Knob 1

Knob 2

The knobs and new flag replaced a big cross that was on top of the butte for years. Lots of fighting over tearing that down. Since the cross was removed there has been a lot more intrest in the Butte. Most of the plaques that are up there were placed after it was gone.

Arrow points to Autzen stadium where the Ducks play football and the the UofO athletic department fights anything else happening. Last band to play there was U2. The Rolling Stones were rejected. Stupid school is ruled by the football team.

The circle is the Cuthbert Ampitheater where there are concerts sometimes.

The arrow here points to the Willamette river. You almost never see boats in the river.

The circle is a really crappy apartment I used to live in. The trains shook the whole place. They are building the new fedral courthouse across the street now. How long do you think it will take for the trains to get re-routed?

This is the trail I took back down the hill. This whole butte is covered with 150 year old trails.

In pure Eugene style the road is in horrible disrepair.

These are the coulmns that people climb on. Not many people know that this is where all the stone for the foundations in the older houses in Eugene came from. This is not a natural formation.

Lets see, no camping, dog must be on a leash, no booze, no glass containers, no loud music, no guns, no fireworks, no camp stoves, no driving off the road, no vandelism...also no enforcement. Hmm...looks like smoking pot and parking are okay. That must be a relief to regular visitors.

Across the street, all tagged up, next to a telephone pole, with no standing room between the sign and the road sits this plaque to the founder of this bizzare little town that I love very much.

Spencer Butte Summit

2006-04-30T15:40:00.000-07:00

Grade:
A
Length:
1.5 Miles the long way around
Difficulty:
The lower section is easy but near the top it can be a rock scramble

This is the best hike in town. If you live in Eugene and have never hiked the Butte..well, I'm sorry but I'm a little disgusted with you. Unless you have some kind of medical condition. Then I guess it's okay.

We started up at 12:40pm spent 5 minutes at the top and were back at the bottom by 2:05pm. Take into consideration all the picture taking, the crazy dog who had to smell everything and 20 pound child in the backback. We took more time than most. We saw Sophie Soong on the way up. Her and her boyfriend left us in the dust. I seem to remember when I was young, in shape and not hauling animals and babies I could do it much faster too.

How high up is the top? well here are some stats for comparison:

Eugene Airport 370'
Skinner Butte 700' (the one downtown where the kids make out and smoke pot)
Mt Pisgah 1,518' (look further down for info on that hike)
Spencer Butte 2,065'
Coburg Hills ~3,000' (no idea how to get to the top of those)

Here's a view from the East. The green trail is the one we took. The red is the express. Hmmmm...someone across the street has a swimming pool!

This is the parking lot. When it gets crowded the center is filled with cars too. Lots of break-ins here. Don't leave anything in your car.

Steps! I've circled the sign in the next picture...

...it contains a map. Some things to notice.

1. This map has WAY more information than 90% of the people who come here need. It's a subtle advertisement for the other trails up in the woods here.
2. Initially there was no "you are here" on the map. Someone added it later with thumb tacks.
3. The green X is where the raptor center is...in case you wanted to hike there.
4. the red X is the corner of E.Amazon and Dilliard. You'll see it in the 360 shot.
5. Some joker changed "Hiker" to "Biker"
6. So, if I'm reading this right cleaning up after your dog is the law but leashing your dog is a rule. I saw at least 20 dogs on the trail. At best 30% were leashed. I didn't see anyone with poop bags aside from ourselves. I didn't see any poop either except at the summit. Take that as you will.

Express and much more difficult trail to the left, long and easier trail on the right.

Pic-a-nic tables yes, pic-a-nic baskets, no. I've never seen anyone sitting one these. It's kinda swampy over here most of the year though.

Wow, what a crappy picture I've taken. Let me translate:

HAZARDOUS AREA
_______________
1. POISON OAK
2. RATTLESNAKES
3. DEAD TREES

BEWARE
______

LOTS of poison oak and my wife once saw a Rattlesnake up there once; but I'll tell you, dead trees don't scare me. It's the undead ones you need to look out for...zombie trees.

This little boardwalk thing has a creek my dog likes to drink from going under it. My wife believes we shouldn't let him due to parvo and such. I'm figuring he eats goose poop by the bucket, a little stream water isn't going to hurt him. I could be totally wrong though.

Into the forest!

Now if you look closely you will see a little pond down there. Someone has a nice dock on it. I think the whole thing is private. I'm very tempted to crash it.

Here's the cut off for the ridgeline trail.

Here's a close up of the sign in the last picture.

More trees

Holy wooden tree Batman!

Okay, see where it says not to go? That's where I went. Red means go and green means stop in this instance. The trail gets all messed up when you hit the treeline. Why can't someone put some helpful signs up here? I took the trail that looks the most obvious and in the end it was a poison oak disaster.

Poison Oak!

Lots of Poison Oak!

Where is the trail? Also, MORE POISON OAK!

Oh, there is the trail, AND POISON OAK!

Okay, so we got to the top and here is a 360 degree view. I need to get a tripod. In case you were wondering no one touched the poison oak and we all made it back down okay.

Cascades Raptor Center

2006-04-16T11:53:00.000-07:00

GRADE:
A
HOURS:
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday, Sunday
10 am to 5 pm
ADMISSION:
Adults-$5
Teens/Seniors-$4
Children under 12-$3
Members free (membership is pretty cheap BTW)
WEBSITE:
http://www.eraptors.org/

The CRC is awesome in spite of itself. The parking is awful, the buildings for humans are a little run down (raptor habitats were in excellent repair though), the bathroom is a port-a-pit, the layout makes no sense and the admission process is erratic. Given all of this, it's amazing because of the raptors.

The CRC is first and foremost a rehab clinic for raptors. The birds on display are only those that cannot, for one reason or another, be released back into the wild. The birds that are being rehabbed are protected from any public interaction. So when you go there you wander around the trails and see the raptors (owls, hawks, eagles, vultures (who are much prettier in person than you would expect), corvids (a crow and a raven), falcons and an osprey) who have been raised by humans (legally or illegally) or have been wounded in a way that precludes them from surviving in the wild. This is not a zoo, this is a raptor retirement home (for lack of a better term) . Allowing the public in seems like an afterthought, I think that's the most compelling part of this place. You can tell the people who work here are dedicated to helping these animals. It's very noble.

If you are considering a visit (I strongly recommend it) check the website first. It will give you an idea what you are going to see. There are 2 sections, one downhill from the parking lot and one uphill. We almost missed the top part. There is a free open house on April 23rd, 2006 from noon to 5. We were told they expected 1500 people. Compare that to the zero other people we saw in the hour that we were there. We weren't able to see the giftshop because they were rehabbing an eagle in it at the time. Also, when you visit you may have to track someone down to give your admission to. Lastly I suggest parking at the Ridgeline trailhead across the street. It's a short walk up the trail to the center but the parking that the CRC provides is a bit squirrelly.

See that dead ahead? That's the bathroom. A honey bucket hidden by a wooden barrier. That's also the parking lot and drive way right in front.

This is 180 degrees from the last shot. As you see you can just wander in and see the raptors. That's why you need to find someone to give your admission to. If you look closely you can see the Snowy Owl. Snowy Owls are freaking awesome.

The great grey owl is in here. His name is Gandalf. If you click the picture to get a bigger version you can kinda make him out.

These are two spotted owls. They've caused quite a ruckus here in the northwest. I had never seen one before. They are bigger than I expected. Very neat.

This is the upper loop, well not a loop really but I'm going to call it that.

This is a bald eagle, they have two. Kind of a bad picture though. My fault.

This is a golden eagle named Amazon. She only one wing due to an accident when she was a chick. Amazon is FREAKIN' HUGE!

Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

2006-02-20T09:29:00.000-08:00

GRADE:
A
HOURS:
Wednesday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.
Thursday through Sunday 11 a.m.-5 p.m.
ADMISSION:
Museum members FREE
Adults $5
Seniors (62 and older) $3
Students (high school and non-UO college with ID) $3
Children (13 and under) FREE
University of Oregon students, faculty, and staff with ID FREE
Pay-what-you-wish MusEvenings every Wednesday from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Free general admission to everyone the first Friday of each month.
WEBSITE:
http://uoma.uoregon.edu/

If you go to this museum and then the Museum of Natural and Cultural History within 48 hours you get $1 off

Nicest museum in town. I very strongly recommend you check it out. There are classic art paintings and some cool modern art stuff and also a huge section devoted to Chinese, Japanese and Korean art, clothes, swords and other cool stuff. It should be called an art/Asian history museum. The museum is only on the second floor. everything on the main floor is offices and meeting halls. Even with the false sense of size when you look at it from the outside it's still pretty awesome. No photos allowed though so don't bother bringing your camera. Also the elevator is totally hidden.

You have to wear one of these on your collar. Not sure why. They have weird giger-counter things at the top of the stairs that might record you or something.

Museum of Natural and Cultural History

2006-02-20T09:23:00.000-08:00

GRADE:
F
HOURS:
Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m
ADMISSION:
General Admission - $3
Seniors (62+) - $2
Youth (3-18) - $2
Families (2 adults and up to 4 youth) - $8
Children (2 and under) - FREE
MNCH Members, UO Students, Faculty, and Staff, and ASTC Members receive FREE admission with ID.
WEBSITE:
http://natural-history.uoregon.edu/

If you go to this museum and then the Museum of Art within 48 hours you get $1 off

This "Museum" is about the size of a 3 car garage. On the outside it looks pretty big; but 1/3 of it is offices or non-museum type stuff, another third is the gift store and entrance and the museum itself is the last third. The "Geology Gallery" part of it is a converted movie room (you know the kind with the bench seats that you see in other museums) that consists of boards with writing and pictures on them. No rocks to be seen. The cultural history is all native American stuff. A few neat things but not anything I haven't seen in countless other northwest museums. There was a "Science Room" with a disinterested tech inside. That was pretty weak. The "Changing Exhibits" room was closed off. Anything they wanted to set up in that small space couldn't take more than 8 hours. They should have had SOMETHING in there. Aside from that they main exhibit hall had separated Oregon into 4 regions. I don't think that's accurate. I've lived all over the state and I can tell you 4 is not an accurate number. Valleys, Coast, Plateau and Basin? What is Ashland then? Did they forget the Cascade Range? Don't go here, even if you get the $1 from going to the art museum.

This is the floorplan of the museum. It's about 30' X 60'

The space between B and A is the actual museum.

See that globe light thing? The only part of the building that houses the museum is to the right of that.

You can see the globe light again here.

This is looking at 2 of the 4 exhibits...

...and here are the other two

Here are my wife and daughter for scale. My daughter was totally tweaked out by the piped in sound of chirping birds. She kept looking in the rafters for them.

Mt. Pisgah Summit Trail

2006-02-20T09:20:00.000-08:00

Grade:
D
Length:
1.4 miles (also a 1.8 mile trail)
Difficulty:
Not easy, I had to make several stops. It's not that hard though. Just pace yourself. Lots of little kids and Eugene-style grandmas climb it all the time.

Nothing really to see when you get to the top. So no payoff. The valley you hike up is strangely warm even in winter. I strongly recommend if you are going to make this hike do it in the spot of sunny weather we get every winter. It's way too hot in the summer. No shade for 75% of the trail. Look out for horse poop.

This is where you go for the Arboretum. I'll hit that in a future trip.

Here is the start of the trail. We're taking the 1.4 mile one today. Someone gets to drive to the top of this trail. You can tell by the tire tracks. I want to be that person.

This is a map and stuff. If you zoom you might be able to see...something. Remember! Pick up your dog's poop! Don't ruin it for the rest of us dog owners by being a lazy jerk!

This is maybe 100 feet up the trail looking right. The arrow points out the summit. It's kind of a wrap-a-round hike to the top.

Up we go!

Once you get out of the first few tree areas it opens up. This was one of the coldest days of the year that we took this hike. 32 Fahrenheit at my house when we left and 32 degrees Fahrenheit when we got back but it was WAY warmer climbing this trail. It wasn't the exercise, it's the nature of the valley we climbed. I was stripped down to a t-shirt and jeans but I saw several people in shorts and I wished at the time I was one of them because it was so stinking hot.

Powerlines....pretty?

The Arboretum is a large open area around the base of the hill. It's not the whole thing. It's kinda confusing at first. You're climbing Mt Pisgah in the Howard Buford Recreational Area but the Arboretum is the Mt. Pisgah Arboretum. I'm not sure if it's in the Howard Buford Recreational Area as well. So then they put up this sign and you start to wonder where you are. My advice? Just keep walking.

This is a view of the mountain that they are trying to remove in Springtucky (aka Springerfield). It's an ugly gaping wound.

Looking back down at the trail from the same spot.

Ah! A bench!

Here's one of my cobbled together panoramas from the bench.

Another heigher view of the Springtucky Wound.

No bikes? Horses are okay but not bikes? Huh...

Powerlines pass overhead. That's Spencer's Butte on the right. That's a much better hike. I recommend going there instead.

Finally we get out of the sun and back into the trees.

This is NOT THE TOP! It looks like the top. When you get here you'll think, "Oh good! The top." but you're not even close.

Oh look! Horse poop. That's much better than bicycles.

Dead center of this picture is 30th Ave right by LCC. Conversely if you look ahead when your going down 30th by LCC you can see Mt. Pisgah

Zoomed out shot of the above. You can see Spencer's here too. If you actually take the Mt. Pisgah hike you will be wishing you went to Spencer's at this point.

Wot wot! It's the top!

They put this neat map thing here. Probably because there isn't really anything else to see.

This is kind of a kluge panorama. I missed a spot in the on the left side. Unlike the trail it was VERY VERY COLD at the summit. This is about a 180 degree panorama if you looked left to right while standing at the top of the trail. There are just some trees behind me.

Fern Ridge Path

2006-02-16T15:29:00.000-08:00

Grade:
B+
Length:
5.5 - 6 miles...ish?
Difficulty:
Easy, very flat but a little long for a walk. Bikes or roller blades are better.

We did this trip on bikes. Good ride. Only takes about an hour by bike and that's if you make lots of stops like we did. On roller blades I'd say it would take about 2-3 hours. That last section has old pavement so that might slow you down a bit. Lots of neat nature to see. Lots of grafitti once you get into town though. There are 2 stores that looks like they catered to people on the bike path. Paul's Bicycle Way of Life and Euphoria Chocolate. Take that as you will. And now pictures! Remember you can click them to make them bigger and all points are reflected on the map.

1. The is the parking lot where you start out. It's pretty new. It's not even on Google Earth yet.

2. Across the street from the parking lot is Greenhill Humane Society. That's where we got our dog. Don't go to a breeder or (even worse) a mall pet store for a dog. Go to Greenhill, save a dog! Or a cat...whatever. BTW, we didn't bring Cobalt on this trip but he LOVES this trail.

3. For the first 1/3 of the trail you'll be traveling through the wetlands on nice new concrete trails.

4. This is looking back at the first chunk of the path. YOu can almost make out the parking lot

5. And this is looking the other way

6. this is looking about 45 degrees to the right. The trail makes a 90 degree turn up ahead and this is looking at the bridge further on.

7. This is a dam thing. I'm not sure when they use it...

8. I'm sure this sign would tell me if I were to read it...

9. There are supposed to be some of those $.25 bionoculars here. Looks like it's busted today.

10. This is turning 180 degrees from the last picture. A lot of bird-watchers come to this parking lot because most of the migratory birds are around here. Also saw 2 hawks. I want to say they were red-tail but I don't know anything about hawks.

11. Onward!

12. Here is a horse and pony a goat and a sheep. Can you find them all?

13. Canadian gooses, eh! (My neightbor has corrected me. "It's not 'Canadian geese,' it's 'Canada geese.' That's their proper name." and Wikipedia confirms it! I have been living a lie! So now you know. Thanks neighbor. I'm still going to call them Gooses though, just like the plural of Moose is Mooses and the plural of Mice is Meeses) There were several hundred in a flock further back...couldn't get a good shot because they were so far away and since they were all gouped together they just looked like a big blob.

14. You can see another bridge up the trail a-ways

15. So the path is on the right...a crazy mystery business with lots of "private property" signs is on the right. They don't seem to like having a bike trail by their establishmnet. Not sign of what this company does but they seem awful unpleasent from the warning signs all over the place.

16. Here is a shot of the CIA headquarters or whatever it is.

17. Looks like a good place for watching nature if you don't mind standing.

18. This is the first of about 10 underpasses, there are (I think) 3 busy streets you have to cross with no crosswalks and limited ramps. Be warned.

19. YURT! You can actually see the Yurt on the map. There are some limited nature trail bridges back in here. I think it's a BLM thing. I should find out.

20. Blue-Heron!

21. Some business put a honey-bucket out here. That's very nice of them. I'm going to assume it was done out of the goodness of someone's heart and not because people were pooping outside. I would have to be INSANELY desperate to use it though.

22. Ah! a famed Eugene double decker bus. Yes, that's right. Someone welded one bus on top of another. It's actually kinda common in Eugene. I know of one bus with a sailboat welded on the top.

23. I always drove by this bridge on West 11th and wondered what the story was. It seems a bit excessive.

24. See? A bit big for a bike bridge.

25. Here is one of the busy streets we had to cross. My suggestion is to cross the street first and then ride on the side of the road to the other ramp.

26. This is a community garden. There are quite a few of these in Eugene.

27. Lower quality older path here

!!!. This is where I saw a guy FISHING in the creek. That is completely insane because A. The Amazon is not something I would call "clean" and B. THERE ARE NO FISH!

28. The home strech. A very pretty neighborhood.

X. This is where I parked

29. The end of the line. Parking here would work too.

South Amazon Trail (Rexius Trail)

2006-02-13T20:53:00.000-08:00

Grade:
C
Length:
3.5 miles
Difficulty:
Easy, flat as a pancake

Boring but there are two foot bridges, a field and a playground

So why don't you open the map in a new window and match up the numbers. remember clicking on a pict will make it bigger.

1. This is Dairy Mart. I'm sure you could park here with making anyone mad. And when you're done you can get a Gatoraide or something.

2. This is the North U-turn of the trail. You can cross over the mighty Amazon creek here. It's where those sticker bushes are. (Marker, I'll explain later.)

3. Here is the Old Pad. You could park here as well and have a beer when you are done with your walk.

4. And we're walking...

5. This is a distance marker. It's 1/4th of a mile between them. You'll notice they say "Rexius Trail." That's because Rexius is a dirt/gravel/barkdust company that puts down all the bark dust. For free? I dunno. I'm cool with Rexius though. If you want to overload your truck with dirt they will totally go along with it, no questions asked. Even when the front tires come off the ground...that's another story though. I call the trail the South Amazon trail, more people will probably recognize it by that name.

6. Another marker...

7. This is Kincaid Park. Kids play soccer and baseball here. Also there is a weird guy who walks between the trees talking to himself. He seems harmless though. Say "Hi !" if you see him. Maybe you will be the one to push him past the edge!

8. This is a crappy bridge that all the kids use to get to school!

9. This is a storm drain.

10. Here is a marker and a big post next to it for no reason.

11. This used to be the vet clinic we used to take the animals to. They shut down and put it up for sale. Someone bought it and was working on it for months and months. Now it just sits. I don't know if it's still a clinic or if someone moved in. There are usually cars in the lot. Maybe it's a MARIJUANA clinic! Goodness!

12. And we're walking again...

13. More walking... Look! The creek!

14. This is where the trail leaves the road and you can look into people's backyards.

15. This marker is not as nice as the others...

16. It's a crazy mini-barn thing in this guy's backyard.

17. This is a big field that I have never seen anyone playing in.

18. this is a new bridge they just put in. They've been doing a lot of work in this part of the trail.

19. Someone who lives next to the field put out some dog toys. That was very nice of them! One of the reasons I like Eugene is because people randomly do nice things. They also randomly do mean things but in my experience the good outweighs the bad by a large margin.

20. Click the link and you can see the sign saying that they put poop bags in the bin and you can use their garbage to throw them away. What nice Eugeneians! I think they deserve some kind of reward. I'd write a letter to the editor but only the crazies write in there.

21. They put in this exercise stuff just recently. I don't know how it works.

22. Marker...

23. This is a new playground. It's not on the google map. I assure you it's there. Kinda spartan though.

24. My daaughter is pointing at some girls on the swing. Just 2 swings. One is only for babies. That's kinda weak. I'm not sure what the colorful thing is. You pour sand in it or something.

25. The headwaters of the Amazon! This is the southern-most point on the loop. There is also a duck in this pict. Very hard to see though.

26. Here's the other side of that new bridge.

27. And we're walking...There's a marker in the shot too.

28. I was a little slow on the draw to get a shot of Cobalt peeing on this marker.

29. marker...POLO!

30. WOW! PHONEPOLES!

31. The other side of that crappy bridge.

32. More phonepoles.

33. Last marker, 10 total, divide by 4 and you have 2.5 miles...I must have missed some because my wife told me this is a 3.5 mile walk.

34. And a passing shot of the creek.

In closing...blah.

Sharp's Creek - Natural Dam (Preview)

2006-02-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

I'm not going to review this place til next summer. It's much too cold right now. I've been there several times but not in the past couple years. If you have the need to play in a very cold (but neat) creek down in Cottage grove here are the directions. Southbound on I-5 take exit #174, bear left off the ramp to Dorena Lake. It's a good 20-30 miles off the freeway. Keep heading to and then past Dorena lake on the south (right) side. You'll be taking a road called both Government Road and Shoreview Drive. Shoreview turns back into Row River Road. I guess you could follow that the whole way on the north side of the lake but I've never done it myself. Keep heading out the until you hit Sharps Creek Road on the right. Once you get on Sharps Creek Road you're going about 4 or 5 miles. Keep and eye for a sign on the left and parking places mixed in with the trees. Expect to make a few wrong turns. Here it is on Google Earth. Note that I left the cordinates in. Download Google Earth if you havn't already (and why havn't you??) to get a better idea of where you are going. It's right on the border of good quality image and crap image.

Alternatively you might want to just ask me to go with you. If you're driving I'd probably be cool with that. Can we stop at Arby's?

Lane County Historical Museum

2006-01-29T16:07:00.000-08:00

GRADE:
C
HOURS:
Wednesday - Friday, 10 am to 4 pm
Saturday and Sunday - 12 Noon to 4 pm
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays
ADMISSION:
$2.00 Adults
$1.00 Seniors 60 & over
$.75 Youth 3 - 17 years
WEBSITE:
http://lchmuseum.org

Not so good. I'm giving the Lane County Historical Museum a solid C because it was average in every way. Nothing made it stand out. It was just a collection of stuff that ranged from mildy intresting to plain old boring. It was all very sterile. Eugene has a very rich history but in all of the exhibits they never mentioned actual people or histories of the items. It was all just "this is a something, this is how old it is, this is what it was for." I want to know who it belonged to and how it got here. That information could not be provided on the little white tags it seems. On the upside it was cheap (only $2.00!) and I was able to buy the two Eugene history books I wanted and can only be found there. The book relating the history from 1945 to 2000 was stupidly overpriced though. $24.95? Come on now, the other one was half that! It wasn't even a real history, just a collection of random essays!

Here are some pictures, as always clicking on them will give you a way bigger view.

Hearse...creepy

Spooky carriage

Mmmmm...Williams bread

A COVERED WAGON! WOW! It's not like they don't have one of these at EVERY OTHER MUSEUM IN THE NORTHWEST. Seriously, they are everywhere. I have two of them out behind the shed.

The wagon at the bottom there is meant to be pulled by a dog or goat...not at the same time presumably.

This is a model of a house downtown that I believe houses the Victorian museum. I am not looking forward to that trip. Ah well, maybe the GOOD Victorian stuff is there.

Here is an assortment of Victorian crap

More boring Victorian crap jammed into a small space with no signs saying what any of it actually is or where it came from.

Poor layout here. The bell is in front of the original witness stand from Eugene's first courthouse. See the sign behind the bell? Can you read it? No? I couldn't either.

These stairs used to be in the Eugene courthouse #2

This freaky-deaky lady is also from one of the many courthouses. Exhale lady! EXHALE!

We used to have a similar wood stove like that in Maine. It set my jacket on fire.

This is a display on the Thurson Shooting. Not sure if enough time has passed for such a display, the "crime of the century" sign seems tacky. Robbing the crown jewels is a crime of the century, what happened at Thruston was a tragedy, in my opinion, even for Kip. This is neither the time nor place for that rant though.

Lot of random tin toys in the museum.

Eugene's finest...

This is the key to the first jail in Eugene, that's kinda neat.

Drunk and Disorderly

My sad attempt at a mosaic. That's the whole museum right there. It looks much bigger on the outside.

The Oregon Air and Space Museum

2006-01-29T16:02:00.000-08:00

GRADE:
A
HOURS:
Depends on who you ask, I strongly recomend calling 461-1101 to check, it's a recording with the hours.
ADMISSION:
Adults $5.00
62 and up $4.00
13-18 $3.00
6-12 $2.00
5 and under Free
WEBSITE:
Don't bother with the website as some cyber-squatters seemed to have nabbed it.

I'm giving OASM an A. A big chunk of that is because the guys running the place were great. If it wasn't for Mel and Ken it would have gotten a B-. The museum is only the size of 2 hangers but you can tell the people involved with it are really enthusiastic. That gives it a really comfortable atmosphere. I could have sat down and bullshat with those guys for hours. If my dad had come with me we would have been there for days. When we pulled in Ken came outside to assure us the museum was open and invited us in. Mel gave us a guided tour of the whole place and had great stories for every exhibit. He even took us back to look at a new engine they have been working on.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my favorite stuff:

They have 700+ models like these all to scale (1/72.) That's pretty awesome because you can see the true differences in size. If you look at the circled truck in this photo...

...or zoomed in here. The British plane has a Land Rover support vehicle. Sweet.

This is a full view of hanger 1 from the back wall

I just love how they have this plane suspended

I got a little obsessed with this cut away passenger jet. The people are doing hilarious things! It's very dated. What would an updated version look like? Would there be drunks? Would the "in flight meal" be a bag of sawdust? Would there be a crazy person who makes the plane land in Denver?

If this wasnt so blurry you could see this passenger smaoking with a huge smile on his face. Man that's good carcenogen!

So the first two people on the left are chilling in the flight attendant (stewardess when this was made) area. Then you have a woman standing in the toiletless bathroom. A man cleaning himself up with a towel. The guy on the far right is using a typewriter and the woman next to him that you cannot see is having the biggest meal I have ever seen served on an airplane.

Cards in the lounge? Don't mind if I do!

This is what the Red Baron flew. From what I understand he shot down Snoopy several times. Hang on Snoopy! Snoopy hang on!

This copter is powered by a Triumph motorcycle engine. Scariest flying machine EVER.

This is the second scariest flying machine ever. I do like the wicker seats though.

This is a helium tank (made from titanium) that fell off one of the Gemini space capsules and ended up on the Oregon beach. The woman who found it called the Coast Guard. They figured it was a mine, so they shot it. Now who in their right mind would give a Coastie a gun? Anyway, that's what the hole in the side is. Eventually they got in touch with NASA who told them what it was.

This shot shows where the tank came from on a model.

That prop in front of your face has GOT to be distracting

This is a Chinese plane. It has a lovley interior.

This is a Sabre, it's a hell of a nice looking plane.

I forgot what this one was called. It had a fresh paint job though and looked really nice.

First Post

2006-01-22T10:27:00.000-08:00

Hello. Are you at home in Eugene Oregon? Are you surfing the interwebnet and feeling bored? Want to get out and do something that doesn't suck? Well bookmark this page then. Over the next seveal weeks and months I'm going to go to secret local places as well as ignored local places and find out if they are any fun to go to. I'll take pictures, make maps, and give you a general overview of the place. I'm not going to any resturants. I'm not going to Saturday Freakin' Market or Public 5. None of the junk you went to the first weekend you lived here and then never went to again because it's touristy crap. I'm going to go to the museums you talked about going to, but never did. I'm going to go to the various trails you see when driving by, but never stop at. I'm going to go to Putters too...indoor minigolf in Oregon? Genius!

If you have some place you want me to check out send an email to ineugene(a)gmail.com, make sure the subject line says "INEUGENE" because I've got a feeling it's going to get spammed from ba-jebus and back and I'm only letting that subject line through.