An Urban Hiking Weekend

Looking east to the foothills of the Cascades - and across a neighbor's hobby vineyard

This past weekend we stayed in Eugene.  I managed to get out on three separate walks on subsequent days - a two mile loop with William on Friday, four miles with Maria on Saturday, and a twelve miler on my own Sunday.  If you count walking to work on Thursday, four miles, I had a pretty good stretch of walking.  I often get down on Eugene, a place where clear-cut manged foothills have to do in the place of mountains and where homeless camp studded riversides stand in for waterfront.  But on weekends like this past one I can look past what we don't have here and enjoy what is right here in front of me.  A friend of mine reminds me that while it may not be the best place to live in the country, Eugene would likely be in the top ten percent, and that is pretty good.  I think that might be a bit generous, but we're certainly in the top quarter, and on weekends like this past one I can enjoy what we have for a bit and see past what we lack.  And get some pretty good exercise in the meanwhile.

One of my favorite viewpoints on the Ridgeline Trail near our house - complete with a bench

Along Eugene's Ridgeline Trail