Day 7-9 - Thu Aug 10- Fri Aug 11 - Elk Lake Bound, Settled for Lava Lake :-)

Well, to push through and get more days done, esp since I seem to have limited time, I will put two days together - the days at Elk, I mean, Lava Lake!

Before heading out to Elk Lake I decided a shower was in the cards - here is the result:

Ahhhhhhh, warm water all through the feathers!

Not a promise...

Enough of that!  Now to the REAL story...

On our way to Elk (Lava Lake) we saw a few places from my past along the way...

An odd, but awesome covered bridge!

Sportsman's Cafe in Oakridge, OR - closed for some years 

(I did not know it closed, and was bummed)... 

And the final stop before arriving at Elk Lake!  Chemault, OR.

Not sure why, but I always look in a free-standing closet 

if they have one in the bathroom - Call Me Weird? 

Bigfoot is big in these parts...  See me?

Apparently Sasquatch and Sockeye Salmon are at

the top of the food chain!

Almost there!!!  Travel partner - Maggie.

And Dad’s leg.

And Mom’s leg.

Burned areas - used to not be able to see that lake.

We wanted to stay at Elk Lake, where my family had gone since I was a wee lad, and get Spot #9, the best spot there, right next to the water.  All of the camp ground is first come, first reserved (though I hear it will change to reservations in the next couple years - booo) and there were no spots available when we arrived.  So we went to Lava Lake, a few miles down the road, and nice enough in its own right, but nothing really close to the lake (even non-Spot #9s at Elk are closer to the water than all at Lava...).

So we set up camp-er (RV, as it were).

Big camp, enough for 6 tents, bot BARELY two vehicles!

And found the local wildlife to be friendly (which is always scary - at Yosemite the rodents may have The Plague!)...

Bambi, Go to your Mama! 

...and we created a path to the pit toilets.  For those of you unfamiliar, a Pit Toilet is exactly as it sounds - a pit is excavated, and you sit on a toilet seat above it, and do your business!  No flush, no mess (well, at least not for you to clean up!).  No water waste, no messy/watery floors when toilets overflow... just awesome!

EDIT - May 6, 2024: so that never made the Blog because I am ADHD and completing things is HARD!

So there it is. And, Here it is since…

I was in Eugene and such for a couple weeks, went to my sister’s place in Southern OR for a couple weeks (was there for the partial eclipse), then picked up my friend, Jama, in LA and headed to Colorado… More later…

Day 6.3 - Wednesday Aug 9 - End of Day! Finally, I know!

Finally go to the end of Day 6  - just lots of pics and stuff I did.

Headed to other "famous" UofO haunts...

The famed Hayward Field!  

Olympic Trials NOT coming here :-(

Bill Bowerman of Nike fame helped make us famous...

Them's punny words you got there!

While I was taking these pics I really wanted UofO Security to stop me and ask what I was doing. Would have explained Eugene was on my bucket list because Bowerman was my great grandfather and I never met him but wanted to see his legacy. 😼  It is not true, but would be fun to see his reaction!  probably would have opened up the doors and let me take a gander.

Then headed to another Eugene staple, TRACK TOWN PIZZA - I mean, RACK TOW PIZZA! Once again, thank Kody from Kanada for that reminder.  Actually, I may have eaten here only a couple times during my formative years, so this was more for Kody than for myself.

THEN, I hit the Columns on Skinner's Butte.  A place I had spent many of my days climbing during summers between 1991 and 1993.  I had worked in Yosemite Nat'l Park (arguably my mostest favoritest place in the entirety of the world!) in 1990 and learned how to climb - with equipment (believe me, I was proficient as a climber already, as I hear it, when I was age 2 or 3 I climbed out of my crib often).

Basalt Columns of Joy!

Right down off the butte are two things that go together like white on rice, like peanut butter and jelly, like a bear that $#!+$ in the woods, like Batman and Robin, like... OK. I'll stop.  I hear the pleading cries of the masses and I acquiesce. 

ROCK GYM... across the road from...

WHAT!?!

RECREATIONAL FREAKIN' EQUIPMENT, INC.!!!

Then Journey got hungry and ATE THE MOON!  Thought it was fair since Luna was going to eat the sun in a few days!

Mmmm, tastes like... crickets.  

You might have thought I was going to say, "chicken."  

Or maybe, "green cheese."  Nope.

End of Day 6 (FINALLY)

Time to SLEEP... I'm on day 24 right now (Aug 27).  I'll combine some of the blog's coming up days so I can get through day 22 in the next 2 days!  I'm headed to San Francisco on the 28th.  I want to catch up!

OK, Sleep...

Skippy

Day 6.2 - Wednesday Aug 9 - No extra day in Eugene

THIS IS a continuation of Day 6 because there was so much...  There's one more part!

AFTER SY'S I headed to NCC campus to enjoy my second piece.

Love that building

Oops, I meant NCU...

THEN, AT about 9 PM PT, thanks to a FB post by my friend Kody from Kanada, I JUST HAD to go to a legendary Eugene dessert spot!!  I was dark, yet there were 7 people ahead of me in line and over 10 people outside eating and 6 inside!  This is not a big place, but it has BIG YUMMINESS!!

The Prince is IN!  Homemade by Royalty!

If she ever went here, THIS would be Heather's favorite.

Homemade Flavors galore!  FRESH MARRIONBERRY!
(no, not the former DC coke-head mayor!  DO YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE... )

I spy with my little eye...

...A Double Sundae!  

bOTTOM: Marrionberry ice cream with chocolate fudge,

TOP: Chocolate ice cream with chunks with caramel,

DELICIOUS!!!

PRINCE PUCKLERS in my rear view mirror, I headed to the U of O to wander again the school of higher learning of my youth (actually I never took a class, but spent numerous days riding around on my three speed bike, walking through the cemetery, and even helping out in 1996 on the set of "Without Limits," a story about Steve Prefontaine, the famous Oregon runner.

I'm also actually in the movie, though I have to point myself out to people because the camera was following runners at the time and I am in the background.  OK, so I'm a blur, but I know which blur is me!

Besides being an extra:
:::I also worked as Craft Services (nowadays you take out a cart with snacks for actors/directors/special people, not what the job description was BACK WHEN... (paragraph 6 tells the beginning history of the name)
:::Met the director by accident (He came to Craft Services card and I asked, "So what do you do on the filem?"  He said, "Nothing." Which is what many directors say because everyone else does the hard work, and directors tell someone to call Action and Cut and to do all the other things).
:::Met Donald Sutherland (OK, brought him some fruit with the main Craft Services guy (son of the owners) then stood around as he did a euphemistic magic trick and turned an orange into a peach - Requirements: An orange, a cloth napkin, then say, "You wanna see me turn this orange into a peach?" Then say, "Ain't that a peach?" after holding an extended napkin encompassed orange from one's mid section)
:::Think I had my first drink of alcohol (not 100% sure - one of the main extras who knew my name was on Hayward Field under a tent while his group was taking a break and said, "Scott, have a drink." To be fair, I did say I was thirsty because it was hot out. So I took it and took a drink: it was not a refreshing cool glass of water as I expected, but didn't taste like the beer I had smelled up to that point.  I gave it back and thanked the kind gentleman.  Felt no ill effects and only felt dizzy for 15 minutes (that was a lie).

Well, that was a fun detour. Now back to your regular scheduled programming...

AT THE U of O there is this place called the Fishbowl - a semi circular study/meet up place...

From afar... From my car's window...

Oops, as I turned around, Journey fell out the open window!  

No, ocifer, I'm not as think as drunk you am.

Up close, and personal... Actually named FISHBOWL!

Then stopped by Hayward Field...

famous because coach Bowerman had Prefontain use shoes...

that eventually became the Nike brand.

Famous old covered seats at Hayward, at night...

Here they are during the day!

Coach Bowerman - a building next to Hayward...

RAC TOW USA!!!

There's actually more, but almost done...

Skippy

Day 6.1 - Wednesday Aug 9 - 2nd to Last Day in Eugene - Wrong!

TODAY'S ADVENTURE started as many others do, waking up, getting breakfast (eggs, oatmeal with raisins, banana and milk).  I was ready to help as needed to get them off tomorrow to Elk Lake, then I would join them on Friday, borrowing their car to make the 2 1/2 - 3 hr trek.  Around 11 AM PT I was conversing with the Matriarch of my immediate family and she pointed out there was a $5 a day cost for the car at the campsite.  I was going to leave it there for Madre to drive it back but with this revelation I quickly calculated in my computer-like brain that it was going to be over $50 to leave it there, esp since I would not be there.  I agreed to her demands (OK, not demands, suggestion) and pouted for a while (not really) because I was going to take Thursday to get other things I needed and just have a day to myself.

Soooo...  We (Journey and I) helped with the RV...

Rub a Dub Dub

Spic and Span

Got a shower along the way

Moved the RV out to the road

This is where we will stay... 

Lord willing and the creek don't rise,

and if spot #9 is available :-)

AT ABOUT 3 PM I realized I could sorta do a "day by myself" today, but it was going to be condensed...  So I planned it out and around 6 PM I headed out on my mini adventure...

--Had to stop at the Oregon Duck Store again... Picked up some goodies...

This one was requested by McGruff...

U of O is well known for RACK & FIE!

Eugene is known as "RACK TOW USA!

Relatives Unite!

Team Spirit

Yay Duck Store!!!

--Now travelling through the mall...

Friends, Romans, Countrymen, 

lend me The Force.

Is one mannequin embarrassed, leaving, 

or just showing off her... calves?

Ahhh, poor thing, she's being replaced...  

...by a squatting male.

Boy those new ones are so life-like.

AFTER LEAVING the mall I saw that white trash exist everywhere...

See the squirrel?  

Hint... It won't get wet on a rainy day.

NOW TIME to visit the ol' stomping grounds...

--Sy's NY Pizza!! Across the street from Northwest Christian College (now University) where I attended for a year or so...

Hungry for Sy's!

Counter Intelligence

NY Style is thin, cheeezy, greeezy! 

I usually fold mine.  

Keeps the thing from folding the wrong way.

And keeps the grease in the right location.

"Can I has one, oh pleez, oh pleeeeez?"

"Just look at the Sy's of that thing!!"

Outside Sy's... I wanna see that!

PERMIT REVOKED!!

TOO MUCH FOR ONE POST, SEE MORE OF DAY 6 IN "DAY 6.2"

More Later,
Skippy