Initial Thoughts in Eugene

Life in Eugene is great. Michelle, Aeryn and I have been here for just over two weeks now, and it is safe to say that I love it here. When I returned from my initial visit to Eugene, the University of Oregon and the Lovering Lab, one of the first things my dad told me was that Eugene would be a great fit for me. I knew what he meant, but I had to make sure he realized that I am not the stereotypical liberal, hippie type that lives out here. What he meant was that I am a runner, I love to be outdoors, I love the rain (although I am not sure I love the rain that much), I love the coast, and the list could go on and on.  I agree with him, that Eugene will be a great fit for me... especially since Michelle is a closet hippie. Anyway...

To quote the lady from the Sound of Music. Here are a few of my favorite things.

Running

I love to run. I have always loved to run. So it is probably a good thing that I am living in TrackTown, USA. However, I took several years off. I have been running consistently for the last 3 years since my Wii Fit told me I was almost overweight. :) However, running in the heat sucks, and yes Dad it took me getting a M.S. in kinesiology to figure out that running in the heat is hard. For the last several years I have lived in places where it gets flipping hot, and unless I could make it to the beach, I had a very difficult time running during the day. Not to mention the fact that I rarely felt like I had the time to go run on a surface other than asphalt. There is something different about Eugene. There are running trails everywhere, and even when it is hot, running through the innumerable trees makes it feels a million times better. Hopefully I will be able to do some good training and break a 1:30 half marathon.

It doesn't hurt that that they also hold the US Championships and Olympic trials at historic Hayward Field. Plus they filmed the movie Animal House here way back when!

Nature

Like you probably know we have been here for two weeks. In that time we have visited the Redwoods in California (~2-3 hour drive), Crater Lake (~2 hour drive) and the coast (~1 hour drive). All three of these places have been completely different, but they are amazing. Driving to the coast this past weekend was amazing. You would have never known that you were miles from the coast, until all of the sudden it was there. My hope is that one day I will get to see elk on, or near the beach, that the caution signs warn about.

Then there is the fact that we are really close to some other cool places, like Puget Sound/Olympic National Park, Mt. Ranier, Mt. Hood, Victoria Island and all the other stuff that I don't even know is here. We already have two other trips planned preliminarily (Coos Bay and Smith Rock), and I am sure that these weekend escapes will be what keeps me sane.

Farmers Market

Before we got here I had been to a famers market a handful of times, and I am not sure that you can count the one in Provo, since it is more arts and crafts. In Eugene, they have a huge one every Saturday morning. The last two weeks we have started our weekend off by going shopping at the farmers market. It is amazing, and I am not just talking about the interesting people you might come across. We have been buying fresh produce that is incredible - tomatoes, roma tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, potatoes (including purple ones), fennel, onions, garlic, strawberries, blackberries, cilantro, etc. It is so fun to go shopping there. However, it is a lot better to eat. I haven't had fresh tomatoes this good since I was a college kid living at home.

University of Oregon

I don't think I will ever be a Ducks homer. I am definitely Cougar through and through and always will be. However, I am looking forward to going to U of O sporting events. I will probably only go to one football game in Eugene this year, and that will be when USC comes to town, because I have heard that is a great atmosphere. Not to mention, the campus is beautiful, it is close to home (I walk 15 minutes to work everyday). Don't worry Zach I won't ever root for their lacrosse team.

Eugene 3rd Ward

We have been to church twice, and have felt really welcome and like we will fit in. It is really nice that several other families from the ward live in the same complex as us, especially the Gomez's who live upstairs from us. I especially like the 9:00 start time, but will be a bit sad when we swtich to 11:30 at the beginning of the year.

So there are my initial thoughts on Eugene. It looks like it will be a busy 3-5 years (Hopefully closer to 3), but it looks like it will be a place where we have loads of fun as well.