This is sort of like those “How I spent my summer” essays—did anyone ever really have to write those? Anyway…
The main purpose of our day trip to Eugene was to visit one or several of the children’s stores they have over there that specializes in kid beds; our four-year-old is soon to turn five and it’s time to move him from the toddler bed to a regular bed. We’d looked around here in Bend but there’s just not a great selection.
It was a beautiful day to cruise over the Santiam, and aside from some controlled burn haziness, ran into no problems at all. It’s been years since I’ve actually been to Eugene, so it was a nice drive. And only about two-and-a-half hours, easier than the trip to Portland, even.
Our travels brought us first to the Valley River Center, to check out a store that, as luck would have it, was having a 20% off clearance sale. We looked at a few things, made some mental notes, and headed for downtown to check out the other store and get some lunch.
A quick note about navigation in Eugene: it’s almost criminally easy. (Granted, we only went to a few places.) I always expect more complication, but the few times I’ve been there I’ve never really had any problem figuring out where to go. Today, for instance, I think we found every place we needed despite ourselves.
Downtown Eugene led us to the other children’s store and then the Steelhead Brewery for lunch (I wrote a review of that on The Brew Site). We still hadn’t decided about a bed, so after lunch back across the street we walked (nice, eh? The store and the brewery were next door to each other) to take another look at the styles we liked, and then it was back to the Valley River Center and the first store again.
That was the store that won out; we bought the bed we liked, but it was the floor model and they needed an hour to disassemble it for us, so off we went back downtown again.
This time, we were looking for a store named Down to Earth, which sells “natural products for the home and garden.” My mom had ordered a couple of plants from them and asked if we could pick them up for her; no problem. Good grief, but this is a big store; it’s basically a warehouse that spans the length of a city block and packs in an amazing variety of things. We were able to find my mom’s plants (they had to search) and while we were wandering around the nursery, an employee asked the kids if they’d like to plant some free flowers for Mother’s Day.
Turns out, they had planned and promoted this “Free Flower Day” thing for kids, but not that many showed up. It was a very cool idea though; we left with three extra pots of flowers, all free. And I was even tempted by a “hardy banana” plant, with the bold claim of being able to withstand temperatures as cold as -20°F. It was close, but I resisted. Aside from the exotic idea of having a banana plant growing in the backyard, it’s not like we don’t already have plants that can withstand that kind of cold: they’re called “trees.”
Back to the store to pick up the bed components, and some creative minivan-loading later, we were ready to head out of town. Almost, anyway; we had to make the obligatory trip to Trader Joe’s.
Come on, you know the routine: Trader Joe’s simply rocks, and whenever a Central Oregonian travels to a city with one, they have to stop and stock up on Three Buck Chuck, or shepherd’s bread, or ten-pound bars of authentic Swiss dark chocolate, or whatever. Often, there’s even a list of things to pick up for other people. It’s okay. We’ve all been there. :)
Anyway, one quick TJ’s stop later and we were on our way. We made good time coming back, just as in the morning, and pulled into the driveway at about 6:30. Sure, it made for a long day, but not as long as a Portland trip, for instance.
Hey, that makes me think of a great tag line for Eugene: “We’re closer than Portland. And criminally easy to navigate.”
Alfalfa is located roughly 15 miles east of Bend and 25 miles southeast of Redmond, north of Highway 20 and near the Deschutes-Crook County border. It’s primarily an agricultural community, with acres of irrigated field crops and livestock dropped right down into the middle of the desert, a verdant oasis of farmland carved out of the sand, sagebrush, bunch grass, scrub juniper and outcroppings of lava rock. Aside from the fields and farms, there’s a small general store and gas station, a grange hall, a power substation and not much else. (The old Alfalfa School, which I attended through fourth grade, closed many years ago.)