Sweet Creek Falls

At the beginning of November, we decided to try this hike in the Siuslaw National Forest after seeing it in our atlas. It was incredible! Almost the entire hike takes place on a catwalk built out over the Sweet Creek, with innumerable cascades right under your feet! We also found bunches of Candy Cap mushrooms which smell like maple and walnut and are good in cookies and buckwheat pancakes. There was an exciting rainstorm throughout the hike, so we did the whole thing under umbrellas. Claire thought the tatoo of the rain on the nylon was very giggle worthy.

Newt Hike: Enchanted Valley, Darlingtonia, Pacific Ocean

We kept looking for unicorns to dash out of these mysterious looking woods but they never did...
Obligatory visit to the ocean after hiking. It's Claire's favorite place to "Run and run!" We go to Heceta Beach because it's the closest free access point. It never gets old! We are oceanphiles.
Adam holds a rough skinned newt, a native Oregon species. They were everywhere the day we hiked! We also saw beetles, hawks, slugs and snails.
This behemoth got Adam back for catching him by whizzing on his pant leg. Claire laughed herself silly.
A spider tree.
Claire's an old pro at hiking now. Thanks again to the Vance Family for their awesome hand-me-downs! The purple "super" boots really complete the outfit.
Munchie and Daddy play in the sand.
Notice Adam's cool mushroom collecting hip pack. We cut up a milk jug that we attach to a belt to make for easy collecting.
Claire's favorite place to eat in Florence is Bliss' Burgers. They have a 1950s theme, and as you can see in the background, they've got the Elders' Stamp of Approval.
Me with a tiny baby newt.

Claire loves this burger joint in Florence--she's offering to pray (in gratitude?) over the food again in this video.

Halloween Parade Videos

Monster Mash

Click for a hilarious Burch Family (plus Hannah and Anthon) Halloween Video!

Eugene "Trunk-or-Treat"

Claire is wiggly and excited to get to the party. I made her stop for a picture with our Samhain tribute pumpkin (Samhain means Celtic New Year, which is what Halloween was before it was held hostage by invading religions...).
Claire checks out the fooky "Blood Toss" game. She thought it might be nice to tip over the decorations and start the clean up help early.
Happy puppy surveys the scene.
Thanks again to Hooma and Aunt Hannah for selecting this awesome puppy suit!
Claire with her good friend Josh. His parents were pirates too and they made a "Den of Iniquity" of their classroom in which they dared kids to steal their pirate treasure candy. Way cool!

While most LDS communities hold Trunk-or-Treat with car trunks, Eugene's fall weather is too wet and cold to facilitate such an attempt. We hold our parties inside the church and have people decorate classrooms so that kids can trick-or-treat door to door. We had music and carnival games in the gym. Claire thought that it was amazing to see a lit and crowded gym, since she often spends the majority of church dancing there in the dark.

Shaw or Shoe?

Further Explorations of Eugene

This is just outside our front door. A rainstorm took out the beautiful leaves last night so I am glad we took this picture. Notice Claire's cute "fish dress"--she loves to poke the pattern and (loudly) proclaim, "Fweeshh!" all through Church.
The sun peeks through the forest at the base of Spencer Butte in Eugene (our complex, Spencer View is named for Spencer Butte, the highest point in Eugene).
The trail gets steep at the end, but it's not a bad hike at all. We did it in two hours at a very leisurely pace and we all had colds. There wasn't any huffing and puffing, just lovely cool fresh air and awesome mushrooms (of course!).
Adam and Claire are kings of the hill.
This marker denotes the summit of Eugene City proper.
We were above the cloud layer, but you could view stunning fall colors through the breaks.
Adam and Claire look at our apartment from above.
Claire mugs for the camera.
An "Earth Star" mushroom. These are about the size of a silver half dollar. Adam read about them in one of our guidebooks and we were surprised and delighted to find a real one!