On this weekend before the 4th of July, we stayed close to home, avoided the heat and the crowds, and celebrated in a low-key way. We’d really wanted to attend this year’s Art and the Vineyard at Alton Baker Park, but unfortunately, the event didn’t open until 11:30 AM. (Why so late?) Because of Evan’s current nap schedule, this meant the only time we’d be able to go would be from about 3:30-5:30 PM — the hottest and probably most crowded time of the day. Not our cup of tea. Or glass of wine. So maybe next year.

Aerialist goats of Lone Pine Farms

So, on Saturday morning, we headed out to Lone Pine Farms to buy some berries and veggies and so Evan could see the goats. The goats out at LPF actually have an, um, aerial catwalk thing on which they can walk. Visitors can buy handfuls of “goat food” from gumball dispensers and then “hoist” the food up to one of several feeding stations located along the catwalk. It’s all very complicated, but the kids really seem to enjoy the Rube Goldberg-esque nature of the contraption.

Oakmont Park

On Sunday morning, we headed over to Oakmont Park, a small city park near Eugene’s Oakway Center. The park is great for young kids. There’s lots of sand and a fountain to play in as well as all the normal play equipment. And being one of the newer parks in Eugene, everything is still in good condition. When we were done at the park, we strolled over to the Center and had lunch at Cafe Yumm. It was, of course, yummy!

We’ve got photos in two galleries — one public, one private. (Psst! All the good ones are in the private gallery! Have you registered yet?)

This entry was posted by Steve on Sunday, July 2nd, 2006 at 5:02 pm and is filed under Celebrate, Family, Local/Regional. 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.