Hanging In Eugene
- elambranam06
- Aug 22, 2025
- 5 min read
Those of you that read my post on the University of Oregon will be happy to learn that the day I spent exploring the campus was not my only fun adventure in Eugene. I took a day to walk around downtown, I took a day to do some hiking, and I even had a day at the lake. However, before I dive into those adventures. I'd like to give a quick shout-out to all the public facilities and locations that kept me proactive even when I wasn't going on adventures. The first of which being the Eugene Family YMCA
The Eugene Family YMCA was my early morning hangout and afternoon workout spot. I can't stress enough how cush this YMCA was. They had a giant lobby and TV seating area that was completely open to the public, a giant gym with multiples of all the most important machines, and an expansive locker room. Again, even with all I've described, I'm still leaving some of the amenities out. Additionally, the staff put out a coffee station that was open to the public every morning and it definitely helped me wake up. I would arrive every day around 8 am and either work on the Blog or do a little reading. I found the facility very conducive to my needs, whether they be blog related or exercise related.
I would work on my blog or read until noon, and then I would pack up my stuff and head to the second notable facility: Amazon Park. Amazon Park was my lunch and run spot. I found it to be a really peaceful place to cook up lunch and chill until my afternoon workout. It was also home to a multitude of trails that made my afternoon run easy.
The final notable location during my stay in Eugene was Alton Baker Park. Alton Baker was my afternoon hangout spot. After working on my blog and getting some exercise, I would drive to the park and spend the rest of the evening there. It was a neat place to make dinner and a neat place to listen to a concert- wink, wink.
Throughout the rest of my time in Eugene, I had three notable adventures. The first of which being my exploration of downtown Eugene on August 14th.
I parked near the 5th Street Public Market, because multiple travel websites had recommended checking it out. I not only walked past the main store fronts, but I also took a stroll through the 5th Street Alley, which had a few additional shops. It was nice to walk past many of the stores, but the whole experience didn't really excite me and I didn't find any stores that I personally wanted to go into.
With that in mind, I decided to continue on into the heart of downtown Eugene. While I was walking, I stumbled upon this completely unexpected Japanese WWll Memorial that was dedicated to all the Japanese-Americans that fought for the U.S. and the cause of the Allied Powers. It kind of came out of nowhere, as I hadn't seen many other trees in the downtown area. And as you can see, the memorial was quite full of them. Overall, I found it a welcome surprise. It was so unexpected and yet well designed that I found it very charming.
Nearly right next to the memorial was the Hult Center for Performing Arts, and although I didn't go inside, I found the buildings design cool enough that I felt like taking a picture. Furthermore, Jerry Seinfeld had a stand up comedy show scheduled for the 15th. I wasn't interested in seeing it for myself, but as a self-proclaimed Seinfeld fan, I found the fact that he was performing literally the next day quite ironic.
After walking for quite a while I found myself in what I believe to be the heart of downtown Eugene. It was small plaza with shops surrounding a bench and a set of statues. One of those statues being pictured below. As much as I had fun taking a selfie with a fellow lover of literature, my time in the plaza is married by a dark memory. Later that afternoon, when I had left the downtown area, I realized in my rush to get a picture with the statues I had left one of my water bottles literally right below them. When I returned later to retrieve it, it was gone.
My second notable adventure was my day exploring Skinner Butter and Hendrick's Park. I started the day by waking up and driving to the Skinner Butter Trailhead. Now for a little context, Skinner Butte is not a long walk, but it is mostly uphill and many people had claimed that the sights at the top were really cool. Those people were wrong. While I found the hike to be a nice way to kill some time, the views were really nothing to write home about. It was cool to be able to see parts of downtown Eugene from above, but most of your line of sight was blocked by trees, so you weren't getting much. The picture above and the picture below are both from Skinner Butte, so you can decide for yourself if I was being overdramatic or if the views really are minimal.
After being disappointed at Skinner Butte, I decided to go check out Hendrick's Park instead. And while Hendrick's Park doesn't have a summit or any crazy views, it does have a bunch of small features that make a walk through pleasant. For example, there was a small garden, multiple little art structures, a big Gazebo, and an old fountain (pictured below). I'm definitely looking too much into this, but I feel like Hendrick's Park is more self aware than Skinner Butte. It doesn't have any cool views or summits, but it doesn't pretend to. Instead, it sticks to what it has. Skinner Butte thinks its summit is super cool, so it puts a lot of emphasis on advertising that, but in reality it would be a much cooler hike if it focused on making the walk itself pretty. In short, Hendrick's Park knows what it is good at-ground level eye candy-so it sticks to it and improves on it, while Skinner Butte tries to be something it is not. Obviously this isn't super important, but I do think it's interesting to analyze the character of a park and how the designers either knew what they were doing... or really didn't.
On my last full day in Eugene I decided I wanted to go swimming, so I drove to Dorena Lake. After about a 30 minute morning drive, I arrived at Harm's Park. It was a little cold when I arrived, so rather than jumping right in, I decided to draw and write in my journal for a little bit. Around noon, I decided I would get in after I made myself lunch. After downing a Monte Cristo and a protein bar, I finally began my swim.
When I got in, the water was actually the perfect temperature. The water was pretty muddy, but it didn't really bother me, because I only swam for like 10 minutes.
Overall, my trip in Eugene was full of adventure and full of productivity. Not everything was amazing, but as a whole, I really enjoyed the artsy college town vibe that Eugene offered. It was different enough to the other places I've been that it never felt stale.
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