(Posted late in deference to sleep and the long drive to San Francisco the next day)

Saturday was originally supposed to go like this: wake up in Eugene, OR; attend a beer festival; go to sleep in Eugene, OR -- no driving. Since the festival was postponed and we'd added the Portland stop, that wasn't going to happen, but we decided to keep it a low-key day without much driving. The direct route from Portland to Eugene is about 2 hours, and we took that instead of the more scenic coastal route at 4 or 5 hours. We did decide that the Pacific coast should be our next road trip -- see you next year? ;)

So we woke up in Portland, cancelled our Eugene hotel reservation since we'd been so kindly offered use of Julianne's house, and went in search of coffee, since we'd slept through Motel 6's free-coffee-in-the-lobby hours by checking out so close to noon. Fortunately, the Pacific Northwest has an absurdly high coffeehouses-to-humans ratio, and we foundour brew at Coffee People. Slogan: "You have the right to chill out."

The short (by our new standards) drive to Eugene was uneventful, though we did notice that many of the drivers seemed to be in a mellow West Coast groove and not going the speed limit. This wasn't painfully slow like Eastern Oregon, just relaxed, so we went with it. We stopped for lunch at the roadside eatery The Hungry Farmer, the last place I've heard the most oft-repeated platitude of this trip: "Well, *you're* a long way from home!" We've also amused the children of Oregon with our Massachusetts license plate.

We deposited Tabitha and our luggage in the guestroom in Creswell, left Tabitha happily sniffing around, and proceeded to Jeremy and Matt's house in Eugene, getting only somewhat lost along the way. Jeremy had some tempting suggestions involving 45-60 minute drives, but we voted to stay local. So our afternoon recuperation period involved buying a loaf of bread, a couple of mixed packs of Northwest microbrew (at a specialty beer/wine store that had tastings, taps, and a happy hour!), and a short walk to the Williamette River. Very unlike the Charles and many other American rivers, this one is apparently fit for swimming and fishing. We drank a brew, watched the people go by in canoes, bikes, and jogging shoes, and fed the ducks and geese. Not quite the extreme nature show of bison right by your car, but very relaxing, and we saw some larger goslings that we think must have been teenagers.

We followed our quiet afternoon outdoors with dinner at a Thai place called Ring of Fire, the second night of really kick-ass Asian food in Oregon. Who knew? Afterwards back at the house, we learned how TiVo works, sampled a few more beers, watched some South Park, and eventually took a nap to ensure a safe drive back (more truckers should use this simple trick and quit swerving all over the right lane). Back in Creswell, Tabitha was happily curled up on the bed, seeming pleased that the night's lodgings smelled better than a motel room. Oregon continues to treat us right. We'll be back.

Tomorrow: The long-awaited entry into California.