Day Four Sep 2, 2000 Saturday Portland to Eugene We woke up in Portland, OR and headed out to find bagels. We took another spin around downtown, stopping at an OSU souvenir stand to by bright orange "Fighting Beavers" T-Shirts for Dave and Jesse. Sent Jesse down to stand at the base of the fountain constructed one block south of downtown. What a beautiful diversion and fascinating juxtaposition. Central Portland is one of the most beautiful cities in the USA. Of course, like any city the suburbs are pretty ordinary. We drove into the University district and stumbled upon the new baseball field under construction. Beautiful panoramas were available from the hillside geography. We headed into the park area, containing several destinations including the zoo. We visited only the "World Forestry Center". Of course the presentations stressed land management and husbandry but I always feel a little creepy when natural resource corporations extoll the virtues of nature conservancy. We got Dave a cup of hot coffee, then drove  over to the Portland Botanical Gardens. The overcast and drizzle intensified, but we had only a couple hours left to sightsee. Lyn and Jesse grabbed the umbrellas and walkie-talkies and walked into the famous Rose Gardens, which the pictures here reveal were beautiful even in cruddy weather. The gardens also sit on a hillside overlooking downtown. Due to the weather and even though we made several tries, none of the panorama pictures were the least bit complimentary to this very pretty city. Lyn and Jesse also took a brief detour to walk Portland's Japanese Gardens. Jesse particularly enjoyed himself and shot a dozen pictures in the brief period of the visit. Since drizzle and flower gardens don't mix for Dave, he stayed dry, read the maps, sipped on his coffee and kept the car double parked for a quick pick-up when it was time to go. On the way out of town, we stopped by the "End of the Oregon Trail" museum. Some interesting artifacts about the journey and hardships that the pioneers endured. However, the most interesting thing was the buildings themselves. The three full size buildings were painted brown, then covered over with white canvas roofs to resemble three giant-sized Conestoga wagons. Mouse over the picture to see the teeny-tiny Jesse, standing in the drizzle to add size perspective to this picture. We picked up a few nice books in the bookstore and, of course, a small Conestoga wagon for our souvenir collection. After stopping at Jack-in-the-Box in Portland, we drove south to spend the night in Eugene/Springfield. The Salem / Keizer Volcanos were scheduled for a home game and we planned to attend a few innings then press south to Eugene. When we arrived at the ballpark, the drizzle had increased to a full fledged rain. Obviously, no ball game was going to occur. We tried to drive over to the stadium sign to take a picture, but had to pass the parking lot entrance on the way. The parking lot attendants tried to wave us in, asking for the $5 fee. We asked if the parking fee would be refunded in case of rainout. Oh no, we were told, but the game would be played tomorrow. So we took the picture, then used the 'game time' to drive around Oregon's capital city a little bit. We stopped for Thai downtown (on the square), then pressed on to the south and arrived in Eugene cold, wet, and tired (and without a ballgame). Original Web Upload May 2001 Last Update: June 3, 2001