1. I started the morning at the Turners' house in a perfectly leisurely way: drinking coffee, watching the early coverage of the US Open men's golf tournament, doing some serious yakking, and getting cleaned up. After a while, Terry, Nancy, the Deke, and I piled into the Turner's Sube and blasted up to the Milwaukie Cafe and Bottle Shop for some breakfast. This cafe was a real throwback place to me. It reminded me of the early days at Eugene's Fifth Street Market before it was gentrified in the 1980s and it reminded me of some of the creative cafes that opened up in downtown Spokane around the time of Expo 74. It features hardwood floors, light blue walls with an artist's pop art tastefully displayed, and small tables.
I ordered something I've never eaten at a restaurant before, never seen at a restaurant before, and it was one of the most delicious bowls of food I've ever eaten. Imagine a white medium-sized cereal or soup bowl with layers of food. The bottom layer was creamy Bob's Red Mill polenta with dots of hot sauce. Next were generous and juicy strips of smoked brisket and the bowl was topped off with collard greens. Every bite of this polenta bowl tasted unique as each bite of the layers was its own combination of creamy, smoky, and earthy -- not to mention, subtle notes of heat. I couldn't eat this breakfast bowl slowly enough. My next challenge? See if I can figure out how to make a decent polenta bowl at home.
2. After breakfast and our grateful good-byes, the Deke and I piled into our Sube and flew down I-5 to Eugene, where it all began for the two of us. We drove immediately to Francoise and Herb's house in north Eugene where we'll stay the next three nights. Francoise greeted us enthusiastically, Herb emerged, and we launched into a couple of hours of great catching up and reminiscing. While we yakked, Miles arrived. So did Bryce later on. Both boys were students of the Deke back in the Charlemagne days and now Miles is a student at the University of Miami and Bryce is in International High School.
We left Francoise and Herb's and coasted into Eugene, drove a few blocks up Jefferson and took a right on Broadway and a left on Madison to look at the house we once lived in, mostly to check out how the plants we had put in the front yard back in 2010 were doing after eight years. It was fun to see how beautifully they have matured. I also drove up the alley that runs south of the house to see if the roses I planted years ago were still there and they, too, have matured into gorgeous bushes.
Then we went to our favorite spot in Eugene: 16 Tons Beer and Wine. When the Deke had been in Eugene back in February, she'd spent some great time at 16 Tons and today's tapster, Chuck, lit up when she walked in the door, hugged her, and the Deke introduced us. Another tapster, Nolan, was in the house and he and the Deke exchanged smiles and hellos. The Deke and I settled ourselves at a table and marveled at the taplist and perused the shelves of great cans and bottles of beer. I was very happy to see that 4 oz pours were available, and I tried three different hazy IPAs, two of them brewed by Eugene's own Oakshire Brewing. Then I switched to sour beers and the highlight of my session at 16 Tons was drinking 5 ounces of Russian River's Consecration, a beer I absolutely love and hadn't tasted since I last lived in Eugene. I never saw Consecration on tap in Maryland or New York and I've never seen it in CdA or Kellogg.
3. In the year or two before we left Eugene, we began running into Jay and Sherri at 16 Tons and at the Bier Stein. The Deke had worked with Sherri's kids many years ago when she led a children's choir at Temple Beth Israel. Jay, Sherri, the Deke, and I hit it off, had some great times together, and now we always try to catch up with them when we're in Eugene. As a bonus to seeing Jay and Sherri, I also got to have a great talk with Tim Shaner. Tim and I taught at the same time at LCC (he still does) and we used to run into each other regularly at the Bier Stein and had great conversations about books, movies, teaching English, and other stuff. Well, today we picked right up on those topics again and our conversation drifted toward the movie "Lost in Translation" which got us talking about our shared admiration for Bill Murray and, in particular, the movies of Wes Anderson. I realized it had been years since I had a conversation like this and I got pretty animated -- I hope I wasn't shouting -- and left 16 Tons happy to have been drinking small pours of magnificent beer and to have resumed conversation with Tim.
If I was enjoying Tim and Sherri and Tim and the Deke so much, why did I leave 16 Tons?
The Troxstar and Marla were across the street at High St., that's why!
We'd arranged to have dinner together, enjoy some Hammerhead Pale Ale, and get in some serious yakkin', story telling, and high level smart aleckery.
The three of us had a great time talking about our families, different things we've been doing, life at St. Mary's Episcopal Church, and life for the Deke and me in Kellogg. After about an hour, the Deke waltzed in to join us and her presence further invigorated our conversation. The Troxstar and I made plans to get together after the party I'm going to late Friday afternoon, hoping to resume our enjoyment of roaming the streets of the Whitetaker neighborhood and quaffing a beer or two.
Needless to say, our visit to Eugene is off to a roaring and exhilarating start with much more fun and great reunions with great friends ahead!
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