Parkouring down Spencer's Butte and Turkey Burgers for Thanksgiving

Trafton B.

November 22, 2009 - 1:55 PM

First of all, some of you may be wondering why I'm not writing about the Ducks football game on Saturday. To be completely honest, it's because I'm still exhausted from screaming that hard at the television screen. I don't think I've ever been on an emotional rollercoaster with that many twists and turns and ups and downs. My roommates and I are actually watching it again right now (yeah, we recorded in on our DVR), and I still can't believe some of the plays that happened. Jeff Maehl, career game. Jeremiah Masoli, clutch player of the year. LaMichael James, setting more freshman records. And no LaGarrette Blount ... again.

Long story short, our Rose Bowl hopes are still alive and things are looking good for now. It all comes down to the Civil War. I'm not an expert on Oregon football history, but you can talk with my roommates. We don't think that the Civil War has ever decided who goes to the Rose Bowl. Mark your calendars, December 3rd at 6pm. Oregon State Beavers travel to Autzen to face the Oregon Ducks. Winner goes to Pasadena; loser goes home empty handed.

Anyways, let's talk about the other part of Saturday. It started off with a big breakfast and college football, as per usual in our house. Then, after a sufficient amount of lounging, we looked outside to see that it was actually a clear, sunny day. One might even venture to say that we were experiencing nice weather on this early winter day in Eugene. So, obviously we needed to take advantage of the weather and get outside; a perfect time for a hike up Spencer's Butte.

Spencer's Butte is a few miles southeast of campus, not too far of a drive or a solid bike ride if you're feeling ambitious. The funny thing is that I'd never been to Spencer's in my three years of living in Eugene, which made it all the sweeter. The view was absolutely stunning from the top, take a look at the pictures yourself. We weren't all too confident in attempts to name the surrounding peaks, but we could see the Three Sisters, Bachelor and we could almost make out the Oregon coastline. It was just a little bit too foggy near the water.

The more memorable part of Saturday's hike was undoubtedly the return trip down. Without really planning it, we all decided that walking down was much too simple. And running down got pretty dull soon enough. Instead, we felt the need to parkour down the hillside.

For those of you that are unfamiliar with parkour, it is the art of freestyle running. Professional traceurs, the title of parkour athletes, are known to scale large walls or buildings, do flips and spins out of second story windows and leap clear over stationary cars. Well, we obviously aren't professional traceurs, but we were able to catch air jumping off rocks, slide down slick logs and nail a few 360s off tree trunks. It was all good and fun until I finally tired out and crash-landed while jumping from a rock to a stump. My knee still hurts a little bit, but in a good way.

After Spencer's we headed home to freshen up for the potluck Thanksgiving we had been planning. The food was delicious. I think we were all pleasantly surprised at how well everything turned out. We had stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams. My house, being the only guy's house in the group, was in charge of bringing a meat dish. And as much as we wanted to make this feel like a true Thanksgiving, we realized that cooking up an entire turkey was a little bit beyond our skill level with holiday cuisine, not to mention our budgets as college students. Instead, we brought the next best things. Turkey burgers.

If it sounds a little odd, don't worry because you're not alone, but quirkiness is always embraced within our group of friends. And it really didn't feel that weird to be honest. The flavors still worked well together, even if it was more like a Fourth of July barbeque than a Thanksgiving feast. Everything tasted great in the end, and it was the beginning to a grand evening.

While dinner was being prepared, we tossed a football around in the back yard. I know, how American of us. Then we turned on the heater and sat around the living room while it started to sprinkle outside. I think we all agreed that it was a very homey atmosphere, and it made us that much more excited for the ensuing Thanksgiving break. After dinner ended, we started watching the Ducks football game, and well, you know how the rest of that story goes from there.

Now it's just back to the grindstone one more time at the library today and then homeward bound on Tuesday night. But it was certainly a Saturday for the scrapbooks.