This blog recounts the day of May 31st, 2010.
Woke up this morning in full gear. I felt great, we've been eating good veggie food and also, my mom was finally on the trip and loving it, and that made me happy. Mom and uncle were already at breakfsat when I got up, probably drinking 10 cups of coffee amongst the two (8 uncle rick, 2 by mom). Had the usual toast with peanut butter and bananas and that usually does the trick until lunch. The odd thing was that Kristina hadn't messaged us even that morning, giving us a feeling that something was off about the situation. Some baseball players, I imagine at the midget level, were eating hotel donuts for breakfast in preparation for their big memorial day tournament...if that doesn't win you baseball games, nothing will...
Today, we drove to Eugene, which may seem like an uneventful drive to us (4 hours) but to most people, it's a long one. Now, what made it eventful was the scenery. Only green-filled pastures and forests all the way down, with the odd snow filled peak in the horizons. The other really odd item up for bid: gas stations. Apparently, by law in Oregon, gasoline is only purchased with service. Which must've looked particularly awkward to the attendant trying to get payment out of my window, which could not open, and finally, when I got out the passenger door for no apparent reason to take a piss. But hey, he must've thought, Oh...They're Canadian, and just shrugged it off. Once we got to our wonderfully quaint Days Inn in Eugene, OR, Tyler went off to meet another one of his online contacts, Bethany, who sounded delightful from the description I got of her. On the other hand, my uncle, mom and I went to a fully vegan pizzeria, the Pizza Research Institute. Seriously now, WOW, this place was remarkable. The dining area was an old garage, and local art hung everywhere on the walls. The chefs were all very talkative and expressive, which I really liked, and their menu was made of recycled items, including ziploc bags. I got us some lemon water, and we ordered some Miso soup, potato leek soup for my mom and a large baked spicy tofu with vegan cheese pizza. It was simply fantastic, and even made my uncle rethink peperoni on pizza... Afterwards, we went shopping a la Americana to a Goodwill (even I made a few purchases), a Wal-Mart for some shoes, peanuts and other trail mix, Dick's sporting goods, where I bought new baseball pants since other ones were too big :) and Market of Choice, which was like a Whole Foods and we bought some produce for the road.
Back at the hotel room, Tyler left me a message that he went to go try to the Pizza place, and that the Blackhawks were up 2-0 when he left. I check the tv and saw that it was 3-1 and felt safe in a Flyers loss. So I drove back to Pizza Research Institute and saw Tyler finishing up his appetizer. I ordered supper this time, which may be the first time in my life I eat lunch and supper at the same restaurant in one day. But this place was that good. Tyler had a slice of the chef's special (14 diff ingredients) and another with goat cheese, and I had 2 different slices with smoked gouda, chevre(goat cheese) and apples and walnuts...sounds terrible, tastes unbelievable. We started heading back to the hotel after a discussion about the local art with a waiter, and I realized I was out of rum. Unfortunately, liquor stores were closed Memorial day, so I had to settle for Malt Liquor (2 king cans for 4$) from a gas station. Let's just say...last time I drink malt liquor in my life. I finished half of one and decided I'd give the second to a homeless. We fell asleep watching king of the hill and family guy, and finally, got in contact with Kristina, and she told us her phone had been malfunctioning and she had messed up the dates to when we were coming. Unfortunate. But, tomorrow would be another day.
Album of the day (only because it was the most played by popular demand...Uncle Rick): Titanic Soundtrack
Driving today: 4 hours
Status of Trip: 66% complete
No comments:
Post a Comment