We were up and on the road to Eugene by 7 AM. We alternated listening to 80s tunes with talking about what was going on in the world, our families and life in general. We made good time to Eugene and were soon pulling up at our cousins Gwen and Fred’s place. It was fantastic sitting out in their backyard, luckily Eugene was only in the mid-80s, not as hot as the Sacramento area. I spent a lot of time throwing the ball to their dog Sula, she was just as enthusiastic about running after tennis balls as Javi. We enjoyed dinner outside, catching up on what all our kids are doing, how parents are faring, and marveling at how we could all possibly have kids in their 20s.
Later we went for a walk on the river trail where we looked longingly at people floating down the river in inner tubes. We passed a house that backs up to the trail where they paint quotes on their back fence – I think this is a fantastic idea.
In the morning I walked around the neighborhood enjoying all the wild, fun gardens everywhere as well creative free little libraries. I especially loved the one that was dedicated to the mothers of the owners and had a special little dog treat container and water bowl. Lori and I packed up and ate our breakfast from the front garden – Gwen has tons of blueberry bushes and we ate our fill that delicious yumminess.
