23 hours in Eugene, Oregon

I meant to catch the 9:25 pm bus from San Francisco to Emeryville, California, but I arrive in front of the Amtrak station early and the bus driver tells me to take that bus, the 8:45 pm ride.  I arrive in Emeryville at 9:10 pm.  I grab my tickets for my entire journey while there and patiently wait in the Amtrak lobby with about 12 others, until the station empties entirely.  Apparently, it doesn't matter which train to Sacramento I take, so I could have gotten on the 9:30 pm, but I am waiting for my 10:21 pm train to come.  As is normal for Amtrak, they are running extremely late.  I notice this right away, and decide to take the next train coming into the station.  I board a train to Sacramento at 9:56 pm.  Apparently that train should have passed through the station at 8:25pm. The occupants of the train are pissed, as this train has stopped 4 times already to allow cargo trains coming from the opposite direction to pass them.  During my time on the train we pull over twice as well to allow trains to pass...and instead of getting to Sacramento by 11:59 pm or earlier (as I assumed, since I took an earlier train), I arrive in Sacramento at 1:32 am.  Luckily, Amtrak understands they are running late, and my connecting bus to Eugene, Oregon (which should have left from Sacramento at 12:15 am is still waiting for my train and the next train to dislodge passengers.  I ride the bus all night, arriving in Eugene, Oregon at 11:18 am after having taken a 45 minute "dinner break" at 7:30 am in Medford, Oregon.  My hostel is techinically on the same street as the train station, but I find it extremely hard to find my way there.  Eugene's streets are laid out in a grid, but the streets sometimes deadend at factories or graineries, and then suddenly continue three blocks down as though they were not interupted.  I need to find a street called West 3rd Avenue, but most places in the city simply go from 2nd to 4th Avenue and I start to think I will have to do a Harry Potter leap into a building's facade to find the missing street.  Eventually, after walking a spiral shape around the city (forming a smaller and smaller arc each time around the area), I find the hostel and pay for the night.  It is raining in Eugene and the sky is the darkest shade of gray possible for early afternoon.  I trek around town, not finding any of the places I intend to find.  When I finally decide to head back to the hostel at 6 pm, I finally find first "The Sweet Life" Vegan bakery and purchase a chocolate cream pie made from Silk Soymilk.  Then, I find "The Laughing Planet" restaurant and eat a black bean and spinach with organic cheese burrito.  At least I have found Eugene's two most popular food hangouts...and unintentionally seen a great deal of the city.  Most of my day was actually spent in an independent gear store, where I spent three hours asking the staff questions about gear.  I study all the Osprey packs and then I tray on superfeet inserts.  I have yet to decide if I prefer SuperFeet or gel insoles for my sneakers.  I look at and compare Marmot, MSR, Sierra Designs and Black Diamond tents.  I really like a few of the tents and this is my great opportunity to really test the tents out in person.  I climb in and out of the tents, study the zippers, the fly, the weight, and try to decide what is most important for me.  Eventually, I decide that I will need to explore the tent options again later, and I leave, grateful for this opportunity to play in a gear store.  I have no problem finding my way back to the hostel and I arrive before dark.  I have a few discussions with people in the hostel about hiking, coastal trails and I immediately wish I was still hiking on the coast...especially the Oregon coast.  I watch two movies "Dodgeball" and "The Day After Tomorrow" in the common room and enjoy the opportunity to lose myself in the wonders of big screen cinematography.  I meet Lila, my roommate and talk with her about Warren Wilson College (she had wanted to go there), before I wander back downstairs to update my journal.

I rush around Eugene, trying to experience everything in one rainy day...without fighting my umbrella.