I bought Kevin the silliest birthday present ever this year, a plane ticket for me from Spokane to Eugene. I swear, it was a present for him, and it turned out great! We had so much fun together, just the two of us, not in mommy/daddy roles. It is always so refreshing in parenthood to step back and remember that the root of our family is the love between us and without that, we would simply not be a family.
I drove through Eugene when the kids and I visited Kevin in Cave Junction, but we didn't even get off I-5, so I was looking forward to checking out the town.
This was the first time I have ever driven myself to the airport and flown by myself, but it went so smoothly. Everything just seems so much simpler when you don't have two kids in tow. My flight was at 6:00 AM, so I got to watch the sunrise from the airplane over the fluffy clouds. What a way to start the day.
Sunrise from the air
I had a window seat with an empty seat next to me on BOTH my flights. I think it really must have been my lucky day. In hindsight, I probably should have bought a lottery ticket! They even checked my bag for free, which solved my predicament of how to get my overhead up there with coffee in hand. Life has so many obstacles sometimes. I was glad to not have to lug both bags around Sea-Tac.
Walking onto the plane, this was definitely a first.
I safely arrived in Eugene exactly on time and only had to wait about ten minutes for Kevin to pick me up at the airport. I love small airports.
From the airport, we determined we had both been up entirely too long (7 hours by 10 in the morning), and thus it felt like lunch time already and we needed to promptly find food. Well, I needed to promptly find food. I think Kevin was probably fine, but since my world revolves around my next meal....... We had pancakes at the Original Pancake House. Then, we went to REI to try to find a pair of boots for Drake (no sales tax!!). After finally arriving at REI (we had a terrible time navigating through Eugene) and finding out they only had girl's colors and two sizes too big, we went to a local fly shop next door. And then, we had to figure out what to do next. We had nothing to do. So, we went to Cabela's and I had them price match to REI for the boots. And then....we still had nothing to do and it was not even noon yet. Our check in time at the hotel was three, but they so very kindly allowed us to check in at noon. We did what any logical parents do when they have a break from their children, we took a nap before dinner.
After our pre-linner nap (I won't even call it dinner, it was 3:00 in the afternoon...), we made our way to Ninkasi brewery for some beer tasting. I assume this is Kevin's favorite beer because every time I see new beer in the house, it is Ninkasi. We drank beer and bought matching sunglasses, because we're cool like that.
Ninkasi didn't have food, so the next place we went was the Rogue Public House. Ate some grub, drank more beer, and then headed back to the hotel, because we had to get the heck out of downtown Eugene before the Duck rally started for the football game the next day. By now, I was so tired of seeing green and yellow and ducks that a football rally mixed with how much beer I had drank was bound to not end well.
Beer, beer, and more beer.
Saturday, Kevin had his Saturday school and after the troubles navigating the town the day prior, I told him please, for heaven's sake, if you want your truck to remain in one piece, do not let me drive it around this town. He took the truck and left me at the hotel with no transportation. I had determined earlier in the week that the Eugene Holiday Market was definitely something that I needed to check out, so I spent half the morning looking up the bus schedules and trying to figure out where the fairgrounds were and how I would get there. Much to my surprise, when I asked the hotel front desk to hold my bag and asked what the easiest way to get to the market was, they told me that they had a shuttle and would be happy to take me to the market and pick me up when I was done. Now, this is probably common practice at hotels, but I am so used to getting royally screwed over every time I do anything, that when things like this go right, I think it's the luckiest day ever. I guess I didn't need Kevin's knife for self protection after all!
I spent five hours wandering around the market drooling over everything; pottery, jewelry, hand-made tambourines and wooden flutes, felted animals, paintings, soap, wooden spoons. It was so amazing. There were so many amazing artists and beautiful things I wanted to buy. I ate delicious pad Thai and real chai tea for lunch. There was a main stage of different music playing the whole time, and street performers in the hallway. I made it out with one small thing for myself, a bag full of Christmas presents, and a wreath for the house. Not too shabby. Oh, and of course, a brownie, pumpkin loaf, and fudge for the drive home. Duh. I really hope that I will be able to return to this market at some point with a bigger pocketbook to indulge in some of the beautiful things.
Indoor Farmer's Market
I had the hotel shuttle pick me up at the market about 2 and I went to a brewery next door to our hotel (that somehow we totally missed the night before), and sat with my bags piled up waiting for Kevin to get done with class. He made it, we ate lunch, and then hit the road for the long drive home. We had great conversation and of course I made him change the music about ten times and reminded him to be careful driving about a hundred times, and every time he got annoyed I reminded him that he was the one that wanted my company on the drive home. Road trips with your best friend are the best. Happy birthday Kevin. xoxo
