This is our last day in Oregon. We have had a wonderful visit and a wonderful stay. Whenever possible, Libby and I stay in a bed and breakfast when we travel. To us, it is the only civilized way to travel. Over the years we've stayed in more than a dozen B&Bs, and every one has been exceptional in one way or another. But on this trip . . . We have really had the very best stay ever at a B&B this time. As I said, every one we've had the pleasure to stay in has had some feature that sets it apart -- the rooms, the breakfasts, the conversations, the decor, the free wifi -- but our visit this trip has had the whole package. This is our second visit to Eugene and our second stay in the C'est la Vie Inn, but it is also the first time we've stayed here. And long-time readers of this humble blog will know that such a seemingly contradictory statement will have a perfectly rational explanation. Our innkeeper, Ann-Marie, had run the C'est la Vie Inn at another location in Eugene when we were last here. It was in a gorgeous and perfectly restored arts and crafts bungalow. At the time (a year and a half ago), she told us that she was going to be moving to a new location -- the Victorian gingerbread house you see in the photo above. Now she is there. And now we are there. And that explains how we can have stayed with her twice but only once. On this trip we are staying in the Gaugin Room, which is a bit above our upper limit for room costs, but the service and the ambience are so very worth it that we are willing to pay a bit more. (Plus, since we are now considered "old friends" and had made reservations for five nights, she gave us a reduced rate.) Apparently, since this was graduation weekend, there were literally no rooms left in town, but we had made our reservations last summer (as soon as the date for Rachel's graduation was published), and we are enjoying our prudence. Tonight (late) we will be sleeping in our own bed and making our own breakfasts again. We only travel like this once or twice a year, so we feel the indulgence is permitted. Missouri calendar:

• Cattail blooms are covered with pollen.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 20th, 2007 at 1:01 am and is filed under Off Topic, travels. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.