101 to 5 to Eugene to Portland

By the time the car was all packed and the house was was all put away and spic and span for the subletters it was 4:45am. In other words, it was time for bed. We set the alarm (ambitious) for 6 and cursed it when it rang. We said fair well to our dear Hardcore Coffee and were on the road just in time for Santa Rosa's morning traffic. We decided to take the 101 rather than hwy 5 for the first leg of our journey- less traffic moving North in the morning and not much of a time difference after all. The windy road cuts through N. California's rolling hills and my red eyes were forced to stay open by the lupins and poppies shouting out "it's spring!"

Further north the majestic redwoods in the misty morning fog opened up into brackish lagoons where herds of Roosevelt elk first stopped my breath and second made me hungry for lunch. Ryan spotted a sign for smoked salmon from a mile away and our bear instincts took over. The Native American woman behind the counter preformed an ancient Salmon Sampling ritual we were honored to take part in. God-bless you Salmon! We were revived and back on the road our eyes feasting on the beautiful curves of the Smith river.

About an hour outside of Eugene Or. the exhausted part of my brain finally spoke up and gave the excited part of my brain a good talking to. We found the world famous Pizza Research Institute and then the eccono lodge and that's all I remember from that night.

In the morning we were sad to learn that Breightenbush Hot Springs was full for day-use but had a chance to check out Eugene's beautiful Saturday Morning Market and found some more goodies for the road.

We took our time getting up to Portland checking out smaller roads that wound their way through blueberry farms and fields of trellised hops. We stopped in a state park on the Willamette river and watched the ferry shuttle cars across. A couple of old men built a small fire on the river bank and were relaxing in their fold out chairs fishing the afternoon away. We ate our smoked salmon and hard-boiled eggs like teddy bears on a picnic. Ryan stacked rocks paying homage to the Willamette and we were on the road to Portland.