time flies by...

I have meant to update the blog since we returned from our trip to Portland and the coast but we have been super busy and haven't sat down to write anything lately...my apologies. We have been getting ready for Christine's brother to arrive here tomorrow...we are so excited to have another visitor and we will be super busy taking him around and showing him our piece of the west coast. So this post won't be as detailed as I would want but it will have to do for now.
A little while ago we went to the Lane County Fair here in Eugene and it was pretty cool to see what a big event this is for this community. There was everything from cows to artwork, public skating to pig races. We had a good time doing the things you are supposed to do at a county fair...like eating cotton candy and other food that isn't good for us. To the right you will see the massive order of curly fries we got...tasty.

To the left is a picture of people lining up to meet and get autographs of the university coaches for the men's and women's volleyball, basketball, and football teams....university sports sure are a subculture all their own here. All in all, I'm really glad that we went so that we could soak up a bit more of Eugene before our time here is done.

This past week we took advantage of Christine having 3 days off and we headed for Portland for one day and then the coast for another. Portland is a very cool city. It is known as the city of roses and it lives up to the name. We spent a good amount of time at the Chinese Rose Test Garden that overlooks the skyline of the city. There are over 6000 rose plants in the garden in over 700 different varieties. We also went through the Japanese gardens there as well. There aren't many flowers in this one...but it is about 4 acres of land that has been transformed into an authentic Japanese garden. At times you can forget that you are in the US because of all of the different types of trees and plants that aren't native to North America.

And finally, words can't describe how beautiful the coast is. We were able to see a bunch of different beaches, one of which was a long walk down a windy dirt path that eventually opened up to a beautiful beach filled with well over a hundred surfers. It was like a little surfer's paradise.

I'm going to have to cut this short as there is still some stuff to do tonight. Here is a link to our pictures from Portland and the Coast.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2017840&l=4b4d9&id=158302007

The picture of Christine writing "Oregon" in the sand is my favourite from our travels so far. Stay classy...I will be sure to update when things have died down a bit for us. Hope you are all well and thanks for checking in with us.

gone for a few days...

We have decided to go on a little road trip for a few days...so there will probably be no updates until we get back. We are headed up to Portland today to explore the city. Tomorrow we are getting up and heading to Astoria, Seaside, and Cannon Beach on the coast. I'm sure we will have tons of pictures to share when we get back. Stay classy and enjoy the upcoming weekend everyone.

Episode 3...

Here is the video from camping in California with my sister and her husband. You will see a bunch of beaches, the amazing redwood forest, and some of the oregon sand dunes. I will update with pictures of the Lane County Fair sometime real soon. stay classy til then.

back from BC...

We had such an amazing time back in Canada...it's too bad we couldn't have stayed longer. We were treated royally by the Andersons and couldn't have asked for a better trip. After spending some time down at White Rock beach on the Friday night when we got there, we went to a restaurant called the Boathouse and had some appetizers up on the patio which gave us a good view of the water. We were up early on Saturday and eating some delicious scones down at one of David and Janette's favourite little bake shops in White Rock. We headed directly from there to downtown Vancouver and started our day of seeing as much of the city as you can see in one day. It was gorgeous...I'm not sure what I expected but it surpassed expectations aesthetically speaking. We started our day by rollerblading along the sea wall in Stanley Park which gave us amazing views of the city skyline. We couldn't rollerblade around all of Stanley Park because wind storms had knocked down trees and parts of the path were closed. But we made it as far as Lions Gate Bridge and then turned around and went back...something like 8km in total.

From there we grabbed some lunch Downtown and then walked Robson Street. We compared Robson street to a kind of hybrid between Queen st and Bloor st in Toronto. There are some high end stores and some cool restaurants, as well as some more unique stores. From Robson St we went to 4th ave where there are lots of surf shops and a really cool record store. We didn't buy much because everything was so expensive. After living in Oregon for a bit we have gotten used to the cheap prices of everything and the lack of sales tax. We then went to Kitsilano beach and walked around...so beautiful down there and lots of basketball and volleyball courts...very cool.

We ended our day by heading down to Ganville Island to check out the market. I'm so glad we made it to Granville...it was a really cool place with so many cool shops and things to do. It was really cool for me to be in the market since this is where my Grandmother did her grocery shopping when she moved to Vancouver at the age of 80! After having dinner down by the water we headed back to White Rock...we were super tired. Sunday was a great day spent with the Andersons. We went to Church, had lunch at Morgan Creek Golf Course, and dinner at home with David, Janette, Kim, and Janette's mother (Cam and Kim's Grandmother). We can't tell you how much we enjoyed spending time with the family. By far the highlight of our trip was having Janette's mother play the piano for us. She was an amazing piano player for any age...but to play like that at the age of 91 was just unbelievable.

We ended our last night there by walking along Crescent Beach with David and Janette and taking some pictures of the sun going down. All in all it was a fantastic time and we can't wait to get back there ...sometime soon hopefully.

We have the Lane County Fair going on in Eugene this week so I think Christine and I will be heading down there over the next couple of days. We have still only seen one day of rain since being here... clear skies every day. Hope you are all doing well. Thanks for reading...stay classy.

From White Rock BC...

Hello from Canada! It's nice to be back in our home and native land, even if it is only for a few days. I am writing this from my brother-in-law's parents home in White Rock (David and Janette Anderson). Within an hour of arriving here we had already made it down to the beach to see the infamous white rock (painted every year), as well as take a walk down the pier as the sun was setting with big Mount Baker in the distance...so beautiful(see pic below). It was also great to drive through Seattle today, although getting through the city in mid-afternoon was a nightmare. I want to write more but it's after 11pm here and we are planning on spending a full day in Vancouver tomorrow...taking in as much as we can in the short time we will be there. It is so nice to be here with extended family...with a beautiful place to stay with great people that we don't get to see very often...it's very special for us. Stay classy til next time.

Christine and Shawn's Excellent Adventure - Part 2

here is part 2 of the video. Once again...sorry for the poor quality... but that comes with using youtube to host it. We are doing well these days. Still enjoying Eugene and figuring out more stuff about this town. Christine loved the Saturday market on the weekend....it really is a cool place. We are thinking about a trip north on the weekend...so we will update about that soon. Stay classy...hope you enjoy the video.

Eugene...

Looking back through some of my previous posts I realized that I hadn't yet given a good description of what Eugene is like as a city. I have eluded to a few things here and there but nothing of real substance thus far. With that said, I felt like I should type a few things about this city that we now call home...hopefully I can give you somewhat of an idea as to the things that make this city so interesting. First off, Eugene calls itself, "the World's Greatest City for the Outdoors and the Arts". I can't write a lot about the "arts" part yet...but I can write a bit about the "outdoors" part. Aesthetically speaking, the landscape surrounding the city is beautiful. There are many small mountains in the distance of almost any direction you turn. These are more like extremely large hills, covered with spots of grass and trees, unlike the snow-tipped mountains you can find a bit North of here and up into BC. We live in the North-West part of Eugene, which we have learned is easily one of the nicest areas in the city. The city feels a bit larger than it actually is because there are many large highways that you have to take to get anywhere. It takes about 10 minutes to drive Christine to work, and in that short drive we are on 3 major highways and many smaller streets. Like I said in a previous post, we get lost a lot...not so much anymore, but we sure did at the beginning. The city is also known as Tracktown USA...where running and jogging is a permanent way of life. I believe that a part of the reason that the roads don't always make a lot of sense is because they have built many of them to accommodate the trails that bend and weave their way through the city like five or six strands of leftover spaghetti on your plate. The trails are all connected too. They run right outside of our window and you can be on nice smooth pavement all the way to downtown and back. I know that the outer loop is over 12 miles total if you were to do the whole thing. The trails are also beautiful. The one by our place runs beside the Willamette River all the way to the downtown core. We have been on a few rollerblades so far and can't get over how nice the paths are (a side note - so far we have not seen any other rollerbladers...I don't think these Americans know how to skate).
Pictures from our rollerblade the other day:

The people here are very friendly. This area of the US definitely has a laid-back feel to it. For the most part, people seem to have their priorities in order here. They know how to appreciate the scenery while enjoying a coffee, reading a book, and looking up from the pages every now and then to breathe in clean air...a definite contrast to Toronto.
A little while before we left we purchased a Honda Element for our trip out here. If you don't know these vehicles, they are unique to say the least. Either you love them or you hate them...and I tend to like things that make people choose. Anyways...they are kind of like a box on wheels...I'm not sure how we could have done this trip without it. However, after driving through the northern and central states we were starting to wonder if there were any other Element owners in all of the US!?! But we found where they were all hiding when we got here. There are more Elements in this city than I have seen anywhere else...so we feel right at home with our funny looking car. Toyota Prius' (hybrid) are also extremely popular. Along those lines, and in stark contrast to states like Texas where recycling is a new idea, this city is very green for a US city. Canada has long been ahead of the states in their green efforts, but this city does a good job.
The city is mostly middle class and has a fairly eclectic bunch of personalities. A lot of hippies...or ex-hippies, and a lot of university types.
I failed to mention that Eugene is actually attached to another city named Springfield, not unlike Kitchener and Waterloo. The two cities are really only separated by the I-5 that runs through the center...so far it seems that Eugene is by far the nicer of the two cities.
A few other things before I go. The weather is always a popular topic amongst most people...so I will let you in on ours. It has only rained one day since we have been here. Yesterday the high was 95..dropping to the low 60's at night. Today the high was 92. These temperatures are a little higher than normal for this time of year. It looks like things are returning to normal over the next few days...normal means back to 80-85. And there is no humidity at the moment..so even though it's hot...it doesn't feel like those hard-to-breathe days back in southwestern Ontario.
All things considered, we love it here. We couldn't ask for a better city to start this adventure in. Christine has the weekend off so we can both hit up the Saturday Market this time. Until next time, stay classy.