Alton Baker Park

Since I have been back in Eugene, I knew on the one day of sunshine and happiness, I had to take a walk through Alton Baker Park. Alton Baker Park is a HUGE park with biking and running trails. It's actually really neat and very relaxing (and kind of dangerous at night, so yeah, just don't). There are a lot of beautiful plants and weird people just chilling on the banks of the Willamette River.  The reason why I love this bike trail is so much is because it fills me with so much nostalgia of when I use to be a student at the University of Oregon. Imagine walking through a forest and then all of a sudden you see this:

Autzen Stadium

 For those of you who don't know, this is Autzen Stadium, home of the Ducks football team. I spent pretty much every Saturday and Monday night of my fall term in this stadium because of marching band. As much as I loathed it at the time, I am really glad that I decided to stick with marching band. I was able to experience so many things, such as road trips, the Rose Bowl, and just the overall hype and energy directed towards the football team.

There are a lot of bridges in Alton Baker Park, almost to the point where I would get completely confused as to where I was. I enjoy going on the bridges and snapping photos of the beautiful Willamette River (which is apparently something you don't want to swim in).

Willamette River

While my friends were exploring the forests of Alton Baker Park, we found a big pond with geese everywhere. Now, I am not very fond of birds but I have to say the goslings were pretty cute. Well, cute until they all started chasing after us.

I love the nature of Oregon and how easy it is to just bike or run (not like I do either). Alton Baker Park in specific is huge and makes for a really nice stroll when the weather permits. This is something I  missed dearly about Oregon, the ability to just wander and lose yourself in nature.

Party Downtown+Red Wagon Creamery

Just a warning, this will be a long review because I have A LOT to say about this place. First of all, I have heard a lot of things about the popular food cart "Party Cart." I had always wanted to go here because apparently they make amazing pies and have delicious locally sourced food. When I heard that they had just opened a restaurant in downtown Eugene in early May (it was mid-May when we went), I knew we just had to try this place!

The concept of this place is very interesting. The minds of two successful Eugene food carts came together and made this fusion restaurant. The "front" of this restaurant is Red Wagon Creamery, which is a very popular ice cream cart serving crazy, original flavors using almost completely locally sourced ingredients. We were originally confused because we intended on just going to Party Downtown, but hey, we got ice cream!

"Saturday Morning"
Junior Sized [$2.25]

Anyway, you have to walk through Red Wagon Creamery and past the Party Downtown bar to get to the eating area. The eating area had a very "hipster/chic" vibe.

We had a party of seven, so we were told to wait 15-20 minutes, we were seated in about 15. They definitely still have a lot of kinks to work out, seeing as they just opened. Accidents happened, but they were almost a freakout about whether or not we were the group that was supposed to be sitting at the table they put us on.

Menu

By the way the menu was arranged on the wall (on removable chalkboards), I am assuming that the menu changes daily. Also, when they run out of items, the chalkboard is taken down. By the end of our meal, there were about 4-5 boards taken down.

House Bread [$3.50]

 We starts with the "House Bread" which was pretty good! There were three different varieties of their bread totaling 9 slices. This was a good little appetizer, but some of the bread was really dry. On the bright side, the honey was surprisingly sweet.  Now, here's where my review kind of goes south. I can understand that they are a new restaurant, but the food took YEARS to come out. I am not exaggerating when I say that it took at least an hour. The food also came out at very spread apart times, so the first person wanted to wait to eat their food, but by the time everyone else got their food, her food was cold. I know that was on our own accord, but the food should have come out around the same time.

Flank Steak [$13.00]

Turkey Leg Confit/Gnocchi (small) [$8.00]

We ordered other food, but due to the dim lighting I wasn't able to snap really good photos of them. Orders included the "Pickled Filipino Sausage with Dirty Wild Rice," "Sweet Pea Honey Pot de Creme," and "Spinach Artichoke Dip."  The sausage dish was really good because they make the sausages in house! The food was okay, nothing to hate, nothing to love. I love the concept of being locally sourced, but the portions were a little TOO small. As much as I love the idea of paying for experience, this place wasn't memorable enough to make me want to pay $8.00 for a little dish. However, I am glad that I went to this place at least once in my life, just because the idea behind it is so neat. I guess it also didn't help that my friends were complaining like no other about the size, price, and everything. It made me feel extremely uncomfortable. 

I would recommend this place if you are into the whole "fresh and locally sourced" fad because that's exactly what it is. However, if you want a lot of food and are on a budget, I would not recommend. If you are like me and in between, it's good for a one time deal, but DO NOT be expecting to get full off this meal. I am excited to see how this restaurant will blossom.

Little Big Burger

Currently, I am in Eugene, Oregon visiting my old friend. If you didn't know, last year (2011-2012) I attended the University of Oregon! I missed my friends so much that I HAD to come back and visit them. Slowly but surely I have been meeting up with all of the friends and we partake in my favorite activity, eating. On this particular day, my friend Keith and I went to "Little Big Burger." Now this place prides itself on it's fresh ingredients and slider sized burgers.

Burger flippin' goodness

As you can see in the background, the menu is extremely simple. You can either have a cheese burger (with Tillamook cheddar, bleu, chèvre, or swiss), hamburger, or veggie burger.

Menu

I got the cheese burger with chèvre, and it was amazing! I never had chèvre in a burger before, so I knew I HAD to try it. Apparently, you can request to get your burger "pink" or else they just prepare it well done, but I forgot to mention it because I was too excited about getting my burger. Nonetheless, it was still deliciously juicy and just the right size for me.

Cheese Burger with Chevre [$3.25]

Some may think that it is really expensive for what you get, but I believe it is fair priced. It's true you can probably get a bigger burger at McDonald's for cheaper, but would you really want to? I'll take quality over quantity any day. Plus, when you think about it, gourmet burgers usually run about $6-$9! This burger is more than half the size of a gourmet burger and still about half the price. I'd say it's a good deal.

Now arguably the most exciting part about eating at "Little Big Burger" are the truffle oil fries. Even if people don't like the burgers here, they definitely cannot resist the beautiful aroma and taste of the fries!

Truffle Oil Fries [$2.75]

I really enjoyed my experience at "Little Big Burger," but I had a feeling I would. The owners (or employees, not sure what they were) were SUPER nice! They let us sit and talk for like a good 2 and a half hours. While I was waiting for my friend I even just sat in their restaurant without buying anything for a good 20 minutes and they never bothered me. I would definitely recommend this spot if you are craving a good little burger and are near the University of Oregon campus! Don't forget the fries!

Oh yeah, they have their own special brand of ketchup they use too! It is a little tangier than regular ketchup. It's not for everyone, but you should try it!

Available for sale, too!

Hello, Everyone!

Hello my little pioneers! My name is Kaitlyn [or Katie], and welcome to my brand spankin' new blog! I have a YouTube account if you are interested in watching me and listening to my beautiful voice, if not, this blog is just for you! I will basically be giving the same info (probably in more depth) on this blog anyway! So first of all, I love to travel more than anything, and I love researching places to eat. I am pretty thorough when deciding where I want to go that it's borderline OCD. Come with me on this culinary adventure that is life as I go around to different places and immerse myself within their different cultures and flavors. I promise you, this will be the tastiest adventure of a lifetime you will ever vicariously experience.