A Taste 'O Eugene

How about another glimpse of our trip to Eugene? Eugene has a different feeling. Earlier I said it reminded me of Chico of the late 70's. There is more though, and it is pervasive in a mellow kind of way. The selection of markets was amazing. We found four small to mid size stores with organic and fresh foods. Picture Whole Foods/Trader Joe's but at a Mom and Pop corner-store size and friendliness. Bakeries were usually attached or nearby with an array of breads and pastries.

It was green everywhere, and for this boy from dry Central CA this was a welcome change. I'm guessing some of the gardening situations we have here would be no problem in Eugene. I'm guessing grass yards would grow easily, yet the majority of grass was in parks, schools and green swathes through the city. We saw at least three neighborhood vegetable gardens in different parts of town.

The absence of grass was on display in people's front yards. The vegetables and fruits though were there. Front yards were in many configurations and it made one wonder what was going on in the back of the house if this was the exposed side. It's hard to explain in words, but here are a few pictures of front yards. We would not be the weird ones with potatoes in the front if we lived in Eugene.


















This is the Friendly Street Market, one of the four we visited. Across the street was a development being started of mixed use buildings. The drawing showed what would be housing, markets and office space. This was one of the building that would be incorporated.




This was another version of a front yard "garden," though bikes were the product being grown. And also where Wilson got his bike.