Oregon - Four Seasons In One Day!

I have arrived in Oregon. Arrived about 5.30pm yesterday, after a very long day on the road. Bus from Vancouver to Seattle, about and hour and a half wait in Seattle at the Amtrak station for the train, then the train from Seattle to Eugene, which meant about 12 hours "on the road" so to speak.

Amtrak is comfortable, clean, moves at a pretty good pace and the cafe/dining car were both reasonably priced. I slept most of the way and was lucky enough to have a nice neighbour in the seat beside me.

Arrived safe and sound to meet Kristi at the station. What a joy to finally meet her after all this time! She brought me here to her lovely apartment (this girl's got style!) and we settled in to just hang out for the night.

Today we picked up Renae, another cyster here in Eugene, and went out for a day exploring Oregon. First drove out to some huge sand dunes against a lake. Sadly I've forgotten the name of the place.



It was really weird, it snowed a bit on our way out there, which apparently is very rare. I can honestly say, I've never seen snow on sand dunes. But it was there, check it out:



On to the Sea Lion Caves (which we didn't go into - too wet and cold) to check out the shop, then up to Heceta Heads lighthouse. The views from the car park at the bottom of the lighthouse area were amazing.





Looking up to the lighthouse, which is apparently one of the most photographed in the world, if not the most photographed:



The lighthouse keepers house was a lovely Victorian, on the national heritage list and very well kept:



On the way back down to the car park, the sun started to burst out, and the most beautiful sky was showing:



From there we drove to a spot called Old Town for lunch at a seafood restaurant called Mo's. No, Moe Sizlak wasn't there, I was disappointed. But I did have a good shrimp salad and chicken and fries. After lunch we went for a walk around a few of the shops in Old Town. Glass and seashells/ocean creatures are the main feature of the area.

Kristi then drove us to her favourite spot, Triangle Lake, where she has a long family history and has spent a lot of her life. Such a pretty spot too.



We ended the day with dinner at Quiznos and you guessed it... shopping!