Home of the Ducks and Track Town USA: Eugene

Eugene - Track Town USA. The long history of the sport of track running in Eugene, particularly at University of Oregon's Hayward Field, earned the city its nickname "Track Capital of the World". In 1895 the "Ducks" were founded as Oregon's first track and field team and they claim over 30 NCAA National Championships so far.

 

 

Most famous: Bill Bowerman (1911–1999), track and field coach and co-founder of Nike. The company was originally, in 1963, founded under the name "Blue Ribbon Sports" and is headquartered in Beaverton, Oregon.  Bowerman and his former student Phil Knight worked on better shoes for runners and found them. In Hayward Field's museum there is a room showing their experiments and scientific approach (below).

Hayward Field is the newly built, modern, state-of-the-art track and field stadium on the campus of the University of Oregon, and, it'll soon be on every TV screen. It's the place where the World Athletics Championships Oregon 2022 in July will take place. We had a tour in the morning and besides the interesting exhibitions, the stadium itself is fantastic.

The Museum of Natural and Cultural History (pics above) was extended since we visited last time. It's a highly instructive exhibition about Oregon in all its facets: landscape, climate, ecosystems, history, flora and fauna, archeology and First Americans. Not too large and overwhelming, just the right size and the right mix of multimedia, relicts and replicas.

 

We left Eugene for Creswell around noon, located 13 miles (21 km) south. Destination: the Creswell Bakery, which was started in 2008 by a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America in New York, Heidi Tunnell. The bakery is in the meantime known across the country not just for its delicious breads, but also for its meatpies, filled pretzelrolls and hazelnut sticky buns (on the photos above).

Cottage Grove – our next stop - is a charming, historic little town a little further south, surrounded by waterfalls and wineries. First important stop: The Territorial Seed Company, a seed producer, where we, of course, had to get veggie seeds for the garden. Great selection! 

The town also is the site of movie scenes  from Buster Keaton's "The General" to present-day productions like "Animal House" or "Stand By Me". Murals all over the town (photo), as well as covered bridges. The most famous of them is the Chambers Railroad Covered Bridge, one of eight remaining in the nation (pic below). Build in 1925, it was  restored in 2011 —it is the tallest railroad covered bridge in existence today. A famous character from Cottage Grove was Opal  Whiteley (1897 – 1992), an American writer, who published a book in which she described her home state of Oregon and life in the mining camps. Her true origins continue to be questioned. 

It's been ice-cold all day, had to bundle up, but when we departed towards the Oregon Coast clouds slowly disappeared and there was some sun on our drive along the Umpquah Scenic Byway along the river and through the woods, with an amazing elk viewing point. Saw many of them, unfortunately more en route - with no chance to stop - than at the point itself.