Eugene to Redwoods

Gone from Family and Eugene and off to California.

Meadowlark prairie

We assumed Eugene used to be Old Growth country. Wrong. The Kalapuyan people used controlled burning to manage the area as a prairie with oak trees. Mainstay of their diet were roots such as Camus and Wapato (“Indian Potato) but there were literally dozens of plants to eat from the prairie. Eugene and Oregon are now preserving areas like this to rebuild a part of that ecosystem.

Horsfall Dunes Beach

Met this man fishing for Redtail Surfperch. He has never caught one although he heard that it’s possible. Nice guy, gave us a shouted warning when a semi-rogue wave tried to swallow Dinah and I up.

I liked this vista on the Oregon coast because it’s high, and out of the way of the giant tsunami that will hit when the Big One strikes. Driving highway 1 there are ‘entering Tsunami zone’ signs every few miles, as if you can actually escape a giant wave after a 8.5 earthquake, in six minutes, with a broken road and fallen trees.