Residence Inn By Marriott Eugene

So this is the start of my travel blog for FRANCE. I was just too excited to wait to start it until I leave in January. For anyone who doesn't know, I'm going to France on either January 9th or 10th to study abroad in Poitiers, a small medieval town in the province of Poitou-Charentes, which is on the western coast of France, only an hour and a half train ride to/from Paris (omg!). I really don't know much yet as for the ...

As anyone that has had the unfortunate task of traveling with me can imagine.....in order to get to our 8am flight at Regan Airport in DC, we got up at 4am and were at the airport by 6am. So the early start made for a long day, but with Florence struggling with a cold (no fever, so it's not Swine Flu), and a sore shoulder, we were ready to get home. <br><br>The flights were right on time, and we even caught the shuttle to our car with perfect ...

... to say.. I had a great time. <br><br><br>In other news..<br><br>Rob' brother Brian and his wife Sue arrived on Monday and are staying to Friday! It's great to see some family! And Mum and the boys are coming for the weekend! YAY! <br><br>I've been hard at work on my halloween costume for the party we're going to this weekend.. pictures to be posted in the future!<br><br>Today.. solo adventure.<br>

... 3 hours later when the sprinkler system went off on our faces. There's nothing quite like getting woken up not knowing where you are and for some reason you're soaking wet. ha We were a little stressed at the time, but having memories like that are worth it. Once we woke up when the sun was rising, we went to the Campus bookstore and got a t shirt. We then headed towards Beaverton and Portland.

I went back up to Eugene, picked up Katie and we drove back to Idaho. On the way there we camped in the Cascades at the Metoleous River. The photos don't really show how incredible this is, at the mouth of the Metoleous the water comes out of the side of the mountain. Turn around and it's a full river.<br><br>We drove through the Craters of the Moon National Monument, also an incredible area.<br>

... oh well.<br><br>I went to the coast with my friend LaRosa, drove by my old house and found the fence I built and designed still standing :) I went to my first of several WINGS seminars, I am learning and growing a lot from these seminars and will stay connected with the program. If you're curious, google WINGS Eugene and check them out.<br><br>

... reinforcing the joint, and forced that down to the bottom of the liner, and poured in a bunch of lava rock that they use for the bottom of normal gas BBQ grills. The instructions on the package of lava rocks actually says you need to fire them up by themselves for about 15-20 minutes. That is because on their first heating, they burn off their outer layer and that releases a bit of a smell which could possibly effect your food. So after dropping them in, I fired up the burner to low ...

... Eugene has the best RV parking lot of any place yet!!! This parking lot actually allows three days before they request you to move on. That is amazingly RV friendly. Checked into the Deerwood Campground, our new campsite for the next 3 days. The park is very well kept and the area feels good. Jodie had finished preparing for Vickie and Steve's arrival for dinner when she noticed a hummingbird land in its nest in the tree outside our door. Both of us ...

... worship since we were in Vancouver, B.C., and it felt quite familiar. We then had lunch with the over-55 group from the church and were taken to Sakre Edson's home, where we would spend the next two nights. Sakre, our EFM contact, had invited people from Meeting for a potluck meal and conversation on our first evening with her. During the next day we met with students from Wellspring Friends School, talking in an ethics class and addressing a general assembly. The second ...

... We also went to the Rogue Brewery/Restaurant and I had a California Common type of beer.. also called a steam beer... Fun fact: Anchor Steam based in San Francisco was the only brewery still making it at one point (1972 maybe?) so they trademarked the type of beer to California Common to represent for California at the brewing competitions. So at the brewery I was talking to our waiter a lot and we ...