Day 196 - Twenty Thousand Miles And Counting...

Author - Grant

From - Eugene, Oregon

To - Portland, Oregon

Via - Salem, Oregon

Miles Driven - 102

Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157618393725640/

Sometimes traveling days area bit naff because we do nothing other than sit in the car but today’s trip from Eugene to Portland was only a couple of hours so we still had a full day to fart around.  In addition to this, I was also keen to get full value for money from our expensive hotel room so I was never going to be checking out until just a few seconds before midday.  As such, the morning was spent cycling along the 15 mile park-laden riverside path that divides Eugene which was crazy pretty and was made all the more entertaining by watching a woman chase her dog through a lake in order to retrieve her retriever who was busy retrieving swans by the neck.

The trip to Portland was noteworthy for two reasons.  Firstly we hit the 20,000 mile mark and secondly for being the least crooked road we seem to have driven in the past month which was pure bliss.  Usually the nicest roads are the minor roads that take us through numerous villages but I have to say that it was quite a relief to be back on a huge interstate.  They say that the best bit about arriving is the journey - well that’s only the case if you arrive not feeling like you’ve just spent a month at sea.  Lunch was a seriously serene picnic in Salem, the state capital which seems tiny but I guess that Oregon isn’t that well a populated state so it makes sense that it looks more like a model village.

We’ve been looking forward to getting to Portland for a while now, not just because of its reputation as an all round cool place but also because it contains Voodoo Donuts.  If you haven’t heard of this place then it’s a really kooky, 24 hour place that serves a multitude of weird and whacky styles of deep fried dough.  Their signature donut (which we had, obviously) is the shape of a voodoo doll complete with raspberry blood and a pretzel stake through the heart and our other choice was a donut covered in maple syrup icing and topped with a couple of slices of crispy bacon.  They were both ridiculously/dangerously good and I get the feeling that this isn’t going to be our only trip there over the coming days - they’re even worth enduring the side order of hipster attitude that comes with every purchase.

We’re here for another three nights so I’ll probably do a blog later this week covering our entire stay.  Lazy but hopefully more interesting.