Day 43: Springfield, OR

After several days without internet access, Ron needed a day to get some work done, so Fred and I took the kids out for the day. Our first stop was the Springfield Public Library to check out the first Harry Potter movie. I just finished reading the first book to Elli, so we had to follow that up with the movie. Then, we had lunch at Cornucopia in downtown Eugene where we had very tasty burgers (locally raised beef) and Fred and I enjoyed a beer courtesy of the all day Happy Hour. I think my beer was a little better than Fred’s, though, because Jonah didn’t drop his pickle in it. Elli was thrilled with lunch, too, because her grilled cheese sandwich was served WITHOUT THE CRUST! Thanks, Cornucopia. I’m going to be forced to cut the crusts off from now on.

We then spent a few hours at the U of O Natural History Museum. We moved pretty quickly through the displays of Oregon’s natural history, but the kids were captivated by the hands-on activity area. Jonah practiced being a geologist and an archaeologist and Elli practiced her drawing skills by copying different bone specimens. Our day ended with a shopping trip to Trader Joe’s. Jonah had seen Food, Incorporated with Fred and Mimi the night before and is now convinced that high fructose corn syrup is as bad as crack (not his words, but I’m allowed a little poetic license, right?). He scoured the ingredient list of almost every item in Trader Joe’s and couldn’t find anything with high fructose corn syrup. Too bad there’s no Trader Joe’s in Northern Berkshire.

Our day ended with another Em’s game with Fred and Mimi. It was just as much fun as the first game, although the beer was more expensive. We have a long drive ahead of us tomorrow with our visit to San Francisco, so we all went to bed as soon as we got home from the game.