Eugene

My first foray into Oregon outside of Portland. I'm here for the 'SC game against the Oregon Ducks. Got into the Eugene airport, surprisingly large for its location and locale. I'm staying on the outskirts of downtown at the Hampton Inn Eugene. It feels relatively new because of the decor and design. The room is rather spacious, two double beds and room for a couch/loveseat area.

I didn't see much of the school but Autzen stadium is fairly nice, reminds me of Stanford's stadium. The concession areas seem to have gotten a nice remodeling as everything looked fairly new. I was told by a Ducks alum that they expanded the stadium and increased its capacity to fit 54,000 plus.

There doesn't seem much to Eugene. Compared to other college towns, Eugene has a higher edge than South Bend, Indiana in my opinion. There doesn't seem to be much going on and the selection of eateries suggest limited palate of tastes. Makes sense since the average age of the Oregon alumni who go to football games seems like 50. I assume there isn't much of an industry outside of the University and farms for this area. Before the game, ducked into McMenamin's near the stadium to get out of the rain and grab some grub. Decent fare, nothing spectactular but solid food. Later, went to another restaurant owned by the same people, High Street Brewery & Cafe. It appears this particular company owns several restaurants and hotels in the Northwest area as I came across another eatery near the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History. Killed some time at the Museum before heading to the airport. Being at a loss for something to do in Eugene, drove around the area and took in the natural landscape. The scenery in this part of the state is really pretty.

Amazingly (;p), all flights out of Eugene were sold out and I ended up waiting at the airport for a couple of hours. Luckily, the city of Eugene offers free wireless internet within their city buildings. Free internet for one hour, the webportal is slightly misleading in not letting you know that you have access unless you open a new browser entirely.