1) The next day we were headed to Eugene by way of a stop at Silver Falls Park. This was our first bust of the trip, in that the falls required a walk to get to them. We had not found the entrance to the waterfall area easy to find either as we were looking for the wrong name. However the drive into the forest had been quite nice and we had time before check in at the hotel anyway.

Finding the hotel in Eugene proved a challenge due to one way streets, blocks and blocks of dividers preventing turns, and similar names, or streets that changed name on each side of the boulevard. When we finally arrived at our hotel (where even the entrance wasn't easy to spot, confusing our food deliverer as well as us!) we were amused by the painting in our room which seemed to echo the driving experience. ( Read more... )

2) When I returned to the room, M and I made some microwave popcorn and settled in to watch Captain America: Brave New World. My two takeaways were that Anthony Mackie did a good job as Sam, anchoring the film and giving it heart, as well as no doubt influencing Sam's perspective on the world. The second is that the overall plot mirrored Winter Soldier in many ways. I didn't mind that, as I thought that the changes both said something about our present time compared to CA:WS, and it also made both the similarities and differences between Steve and Sam stand out more clearly. ( Read more... )

3) After, we watched The Eternals, which was new to M as she was curious about the adamantium source in the sea in Captain America. I continue to think that it's a pity this film didn't do well. I liked the story, as I like using the MCU as a framework for different kinds of tales. I figured my friend would like it too as she's fond of origin myths. And she did, appreciating the variety of characters in it, even though this is also a sort of weakness in that we don't have time to explore them all properly.

It's also a shame that we probably won't have a follow up to either credit scene.

4) On the last day of the trip, M and I drove down to L.A. together. We passed a lot of nice sights during our crossing of the CA-152 West. Some were entertaining, such as all the garlic farms in Gilroy advertising things like garlic ice cream and garlic honey (also 10 avocados for $1!) Some were just pretty. One was the San Luis reservoir, which was huge. ( Read more... )

5) My week+ since the trip has been fairly occupied with catching up on things, dealing with the bed issue, and frankly just being tired. I thought it was interesting that both my friends took an extra day off work after their return than they'd planned. I had less to jump into than they did but felt so draggy my first day back I feared I'd managed to pick up a bug, despite consistent masking. But nope, just tired.