Celebrating our one-year wedding anniversary

We got married on May 29, 2020 on the campus of Bowling Green State University, where we met, with our immediate family in a small, intimate ceremony. On May 29, 2021 we were on the road travelling around Oregon. We opted for a day in the city of Eugene, Oregon to celebrate our anniversary. It was a great day full of great food, great weather, and even better memories.

Breakfast - Studio One Cafe

We started the day with one of our favorite things to do: have a big breakfast at a local restaurant. Adam found Studio One Cafe online and we decided to check it out. It was a Saturday morning and we figured we would see a long wait wherever we tried to go, so we had a few options picked out. Fortunately, we were able to get a table and food here with little wait. We had a huge breakfast! Adam got eggs benedict with veggies, Madi got a breakfast quesadilla, and we split a pancake. It was possibly the best pancake we've ever had and, even though it made us stuffed for hours, it was worth it.

Walking downtown

Eugene is a college town with a lot of local flare. Saturday is the day for the art market and farmer's market. We decided to walk Acadia the two miles to the market to get some sunshine and explore the campus of the University of Oregon. Unfortunately, neither markets allowed dogs to walk through. Adam walked through a little to get a taste of what Eugene has while Madi and Acadia sat at a bench soaking up the rays. At the farmer's market, Adam was able to pick up a few things for dinner and a few things we needed in the van. We tend to grocery shop at big-box stores because they are always open when and where we are travelling. We much prefer to support local farmers and businesses when we can. We got mushrooms, honey, and strawberries at the farmer's market but only the mushrooms and honey made it back to the van. We snacked on the strawberries on the 2-mile walk back to the van. It was a good afternoon exploring a new city.

Winery

Heading out of Eugene toward the more rural parts of Oregon, we saw signs for a winery. It's hard to resist these stops, at least for Madi, so we pulled in a warehouse district and found a nice outdoor table for some wine. We got a bottle of a pink wine and sat in the shade to relax. There was only one other group of people there, all about our age. We talked and reminisced about the last year we've been married. Then we heard people talking at the counter about $5 refills for growlers of cider... that caught our attention. Turns out this winery was closing and they needed to get rid of their cider before it went bad. We got two growler refills, with the growlers, and somehow fit them in the fridge in the van. Needless to say, we had drinks for a while.

Hipcamp at Cosmic Vegetable

Rather than driving for a few hours to our next destinations along the coast, we booked a Hipcamp right in Eugene. We love camping with Hipcamp because we get to support local farmers and landowners. Hipcamp is a website that has unique camping locations listed all around the country. Each place has a fee and allowed equipment on the listing. It's a user-friendly, fun platform that gets us out of campgrounds and parks and into more local community engagement.

Cosmic Vegetable is a homestead just outside of Eugene. They are a family looking to lessen their impact on Earth and foster a sense of community surrounding resilience, self-reliance, and permaculture gardening. We got a farm tour and learned a lot about bunnies and fairies from the youngest member of the family. We had a great time talking with them about permaculture and learning a lot about their goals and vision for their land and their community.

We had a great time celebrating our anniversary. We left Eugene refreshed, full of good food, and excited to see where our travels would take us now.