RN: After we left Florence, we drove due east to meet up for lunch with our friend Judith in Eugene.  Along the way, we stopped at a roadside farm shop, and when we arrived we got a text from Janis that a certain presidential candidate had stepped down. As we entered the shop 5-6 twenty-something year olds were on their phones looking at a newsfeed and cheering. One of them said, “I hope we get a candidate I can vote for.” ‘Nuff said.

We also visited the Fern Ridge Wildlife area.  It’s a gorgeous area set aside for birders, hunters, and nature lovers.  It was very peaceful when we were there…

After lunch in Eugene, we headed north to Joe and Joanie’s house…

FE. It is such a pleasure to reconnect with our great friends in Portland: Steve and Karla, who are like family to us….they essentially are a second set of parents to our daughters, and we are staying with them. But also Joe and Bill….we all worked together at Oregon Health and Sciences University, mostly studying mouse models of human nervous system disease. Bill retired but is still at it as a volunteer researcher. He also is the pilot who took picture of Crater Lake that is proudly displayed in our foyer in Falmouth. Joe I know for even longer, he worked with me as and undergrad when I was a postdoc at a minor university in Boston, then did summer research with me when he was in med school, and when he was a resident at OHSU. Well, the experience did not completely mess him up, he now is the director of the Parkinson’s Center here and an endowed full professor of Neurology. Besides all that, Joe and Bill are truly nice guys! Joe and Joanie had us over for a great barbecue and some bottles of wine. Here we are, from left clockwise: Moi, Joe, Bill, Beverly (his wife), Steve, Karla, Joanie….Happy times!