Portland, OR - 5350 Miles

We opted for the coastal route from Eugene to Portland. It was easier than expected after three nights in Eugene. I think we only moved the car twice in those three days.

Eugene joins the list of highly livable cities along the west coast. Our hotel was downtown but the downtown area was not as compressed as most. Lots of green space mixed in with mostly one and two story buildings. Few buildings were over four stories tall. Traffic was light and parking abundant.

I drew three conclusions about Eugene. First, the dominant colors are gray, green, and brown. The colors dominate the local environment and folks carried them through into everything built or otherwise man-made. I'm convinced bright colors were these people's Kryptonite. The sole exception was the rose. They go nuts over roses. Rose bushes were everywhere. Second, smoking was more socially acceptable than I've encountered elsewhere lately. I even saw old-style cigarette machines not seen in decades - the ones you put your money in and yank hard on a knob to get a pack to drop. You could even get candy and cigarettes out of the same machine. Third, there seemed to be a lot of illness in Eugene. I'm basing this on the amount of medicinal marijuana in the air. I hypothesize the illness is caused by bus fumes since the medicine seemed most common near bus stops, but it's only a theory. The victims were happier than most though.

My early note on Portland is the love of drab colors and roses continues at least this far north. In fact we just missed the rose festival which seems to be to the people of Portland what rumspringa is to the Amish. We are in Portland for nine nights so I plan to get caught up on doing absolutely nothing while here.