Days 44-45: That’s What He Said

Hey all.  Shay and I are going to break down the past couple of days from our own perspective and our own adventures.  Here is my take on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

I have a pretty easy blog entry, actually.  I really haven’t done much other than work the past couple of days.  I’ve been working hard to keep up with things back in Minnesota so we can enjoy time off here and there without having to worry if things are falling apart in my professional world.  It’s been challenging, but successful.  So in the end, it all works out.

Yesterday, after mucho pleading and prying, Shay finally convinced me to take some time off and check out the Hawthorne and Division Streets of Eastern Portland.  We grabbed some lunch at a french place called Petite Province.  The food was fabulous and the waitstaff, although French, was actually quite friendly.  After lunch, we then went to Hawthorne street because Shay wanted to check out a bedspread she saw the day before when hanging out with Anya and Rob.  We went to check it out and although I can’t say rating bedspreads is a strength of mine, this one was very nice and unique.  You could tell it was hand-sewn and the attention to detail was superior.  But when asking the help how much is was, Shay fell less in love with it.  It was $500 for the spread and the pillow cases. She said she could knock it down to $450, but uh, no way.

Once we were done with walking around town, we headed back to the house and started to pack up and head to Eugene. I must say, the people we stayed with in Portland were super friendly people. Very hospitable and a lot of fun. And it was good to see Shay happy when being around Anya and Rob. You could tell she really missed them and was happy to be around them, if only for a short while.  So, we packed up, visited Anya at her work one last time and then headed down to Eugene to visit my friends.

We’re staying with Anna Warnes and her husband Nate Erickson.  Anna and I graduated high school together and really haven’t been in contact with one another until the past year.  Right before Shay and I headed out on this trip, I contacted Anna (knowing she was living in Oregon) and asked her about places to stay and see and all that good jazz. She was helpful with providing some information and as things turned out, we stayed in contact throughout the trip.  Right before we hit Oregon, she sent me a message on Facebook saying that if we come through Eugene, we should stop in and even crash here we’d like to. After talking with Shay and figuring out where we wanted to be and when, we thought staying in Eugene would make perfect sense and we took Anna and Nate up on their offer.

We got into town last night and spent the entire evening catching up with what we’ve all been doing since high school (which seems so long ago now…).  They made us dinner and bought some local microbrews that we sampled.  It was very delicious, all of it.  So after dinner, we walked to a bar that was nearby just to see what the Eugene atmosphere was like on a Wednesday night.  It wasn’t too crazy, but then again, we didn’t go out too late either.  We had one drink, sat around outside and then left. Nothing too crazy or wild, in fact, that seems to be the running theme when it comes to drinking and going out on the town for this trip.  Which is fine, actually, it makes the trip a lot less expensive.

Today, day 46, we’re gonna play by ear and write a blog about it when the time comes to say something.  We have unposted pictures from Portland still.  I’ll get those up sometime today.  Watch for Shay’s take on the past couple days in an upcoming blog!