The Emerald City

En route from Anchorage, Alaska to Eugene, Oregon I took the logical detour through New York City.  I left Anchorage at 1 AM on Saturday morning and arrived at JFK at 4PM.  It was a marathon of flying, but well worth it as I was coming to town for the nuptials of Brittany Fahner and Brian Loesch.  In addition to sharing in their wedding day, I got to see my wife and many, many of my friends.  Their wedding was lovely and the reception that followed was a blast.  Monday morning, Sheila Marie and I shared a last moment with the newlyweds at brunch before I dropped Sheila Marie back at our apartment, petted each of the cats and headed back to the airport and life on tour.  All told, I was in New York for 47, fun-filled, hours...

The new Mr. & Mrs. Loesch cut their wedding cake

Sisters, sisters, never were there such devoted sisters...

Among the many people I hadn't seen in so very long and was super-pleased to spend some time with was the charming Ashley Donovan Flynt Garrett

Monday night I emerged from the airport and was immediately greeted with the distinctive smell of the Pacific Northwest - a crisp, clean, piney scent welcomed me to Eugene.  The Residence Inn that I called home for the week was right on the banks of the Willamette River and was absolutely lovely.  Not only was the location a dream (riverfront trails lined both sides of the river) but the hotel was newly renovated, spacious and nicely appointed.

TVFMHRW - Eugene, OR

The Willamette River was just beyond the red brick of the North Bank Cafe (a wonderful member of the McMenamin's family of pubs and restaurants).

Eugene's nicknames include "Track Town" and "The Emerald City" and both were especially apt during our stay: the Eugene Marathon was run on Sunday (tagline: "Running in the footsteps of giants.") and the early May spring-time in Eugene was one of the most vibrantly green things I have ever experienced.  I got outside, as much as the rehearsal schedule allowed, for a couple of springtime hikes around town.  My first hike was in the city park just across the river from the Residence Inn.  Skinner Butte Park is built around a hill that steeply rises some 200 feet above the surrounding city.  It was the location of a cabin built by Eugene's founder, Eugene Skinner, in 1846.

Several buttes adorn the Eugene area.  (A butte is an isolated hill with steep sides, that is taller than it its top is wide.  A mesa is wider at the top than it is wide.)  The tallest of these buttes is Spencer Butte just south of town.  I climbed Spencer Butte on Friday afternoon and was richly rewarded with an amazing view in every direction!  At 2,055 feet, Spencer Butte is the tallest point in the area and allowed me views across Eugene and the Willamette Valley all the way to the snow-capped Cascade Mountains in the distance.  The 3/4 mile trail rose nearly 800 feet to the summit, leaving me out of breath by the time I arrived at the top, but I had plenty of time to rest as I sat on the rocky outcroppings and marveled at the view.

The view from the top of Spencer Butte with the Willamette River shining in the middle distance

Near the beginning of the trial, I paused to take this picture of the astonishingly green landscape.  As I rose, the forest turned to spruce trees and then to meadows of thick grass dotted with wildflowers.

I had a couple of really great meals in Eugene.  As it is both a university town (the University of Oregon Ducks call Eugene home) and part of the Pacific Northwest, the crunchy granola quotient is quite high in Eugene.  This paid off handsomely in terms of local, sustainable cuisine.  Both my dinner at Adam's Place and Bruno's Chef's Kitchen were full of local goodies prepared in thoughtful ways.  Among the highlights were the dates stuffed with toasted hazelnuts, wrapped in bacon and drizzled with saffron-infused honey at Adam's Place and the roasted Oregon duck breast and vegetables over fresh, crunchy cabbage at Bruno's.  I had no trouble finding tasty things in Eugene...  The inventive ice cream at Prince Puckler's also needs special mention.

Before the 4 show weekend completely overtook us, Karl and I took a mini-roadtrip south to Cottage Grove, the covered bridge capitol of Oregon.  Turns out that Oregon has lots of covered bridges and the Cottage Grove area is home to 6 of them.  The whole area was beautiful and the quaint bridges only added to the scenery.

Karl at our first stop, the Centennial Bridge in downtown Cottage Grove.

This bridge is actually a recent construction (1987) built from parts of older, demolished bridges to celebrate Cottage Grove's centennial.

w/ the Stewart Bridge and Mosby Creek

The weekend progressed much as it always does - in a blur of shows.  As we packed up the circus during the second show on Sunday, though, our Head Carpenter, Keith, asked me if I'd like to stay and help load-out the show.  The local crew was short on labor and could use a little help.  I agreed and was hired by IATSE Local #675 as a "Pusher".  (The load-out crew is divided up into categories: Deck Hands (the carpenters, electricians, props who hold full union cards and do the work of assembling the scenery, hanging the lights, etc.), Loaders (who load and secure the trucks) and Pushers (who, surprisingly, push the carts, hampers and boxes between the Deck Hands and the Loaders.  I had a blast helping our crew load-out.  Being a "Pusher" is sort of mindless work, someone tells you to push that hamper out onto the dock, but I had more knowledge of the show than your average Pusher and like to think that I was pretty helpful - at least I knew where to find the wardrobe room and its gondolas without having to be shown...  After more than two years of hearing about the load-out, it was interesting to see how one actually worked!  In appreciation of my help (as if the check I'll eventually receive from the Eugene local wasn't enough), Keith doctored up a t-shirt for me:

9:30 PM is when I started my new career as a Pusher

The theatre in Eugene was quite nice.  The Hult Center for the Performing Arts features a couple of performance spaces and an art gallery.  We performed in the largest space: the Silva Concert Hall.  The backstage and support areas were quite nice, but were a little short on dressing rooms.  The cast doubled up and we found room for everybody.

The Hult Center's exterior

The Silva Concert hall was quite pretty inside - its most notable feature was the basket weave panels that made up the ceiling and walls.

The Spamily welcomed a new member in Eugene: Vanessa Sonon took over the "Purple Showgirl" track.  Vanessa was a member of the Broadway cast and dropped right into the track left vacant when Angelina left us back in Tampa.  As it is the same track she performed on Broadway, Graham and Tera-Lee were able to fill her in on the differences between the Broadway and Tour staging quite quickly and got her into the show by the weekend.  Vanessa is the last cast replacement on the horizon - we're all looking forward to a more settled cast as we head into the long runs of San Francisco and Los Angeles shortly!

I really liked Eugene.  The city had a great vibe (as so many college towns do) and could not have been more beautiful.  I like the Pacific Northwest more and more the more time I spend there.  I feel right at home among the rivers, mountains and great people of the region. I'm grateful that Spamalot has introduced me to this wonderful part of the world and have a feeling I'll be back even after this touring adventure is over.

JV