Meeting Eugene

Brandon, Rocky and I headed out on Sunday afternoon and had the chance to see our new town, Eugene. We looked at some condos but decided that we'd be much better off staying in the student housing. Unfortunately we should have applied for our apartment about three months ago, but because we have a kid we were immediately put at the top of the list. Rocky is already starting to pay off. She's our magic ticket to good service, strangers being friendly, and now she has even gotten us a place to live.

We rewarded her by letting her have the bed.

We camped one night on the way home and it rained so we got to have some bonding time in our little tent. While we were there Rocky started getting really giggly. I think that happens when you spend too much time in a car-seat.
All those of you who are planning to visit us in Eugene will have too look out for these wild donkeys. It is a long drive, but there are many interesting things to see along the way. There is a lot of nice scenery, and then when you hit Nevada you can see nothing. You can see as much nothing as you want. It's a great place to go when you are looking for nothing.

When I had my feel of nothing I turned around in my seat so I could look at my little girl. It was hard to pull my attention away from the Nevada landscape, but Rocky was somehow able to do it.
Eugene is known for a couple of things. First, it is considered Track Capital USA, in fact, they just barely had the Olympic trials there. It is also where Nike was started. It is interesting to see the Nike swoosh everywhere on campus. We did see an Adidas store right across the street but I don't think many people go in there in broad daylight. They probably wait until after dark and wear hoods so that nobody can see that they are traitors.

The school is also known for the talents of Steve Prefontaine. We were there for such a short time that I didn't get to see much of the memorabilia on campus, but we did see a barber shop where he got his hair cut.

The campus was beautiful and I'm really excited to get to know it better.

Here is the giggle girl and her daddy.

Artworks of the Masters

Last week we went to Salt Lake to the Museum of Fine Arts to see their Monet to Picasso exhibit. The works were amazing and I would encourage everyone to go see it before it leaves in September.

I knew that I would like the exhibit, but I had no idea how much Rocky would enjoy all the colorful paintings. Her eyes would get huge and she would stare at them intensely. She was very well-behaved and caught the attention of many of the museum's guests. I was stopped by people speaking French, Spanish and another language that I didn't recognize. Who would think that anyone would stop and stare at a baby when surrounded by art from the modern European masters? I guess babies all take on their own form and style, and they are 'limited edition' because they only stay small for a short period of time.

This was Rocky's favorite picture. Portrait of a Woman by Amedeo Modigliani



My mom really liked The Red Kercheif: Portrait of Mrs. Monet (La Capeline Rouge Portrait De Madame Monet) by Claude Monet.Jill was a big fan of Vincent Van Gogh's The Poplars at Saint-Remh (Les peupliers Sur La Colline).
Brandon and I found our favorites too, but they didn't have the pictures for me to steal from the museum's website. If you want to see them you will have to go for yourself. It's $15 and worth every penny.
Just because you're lucky I'll let you look at my greatest piece of art for free.