Tag Archives: Hippie

Eugenius!!!

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PRI - Pizza. Research. Institute.

PRI - Pizza. Research. Institute.

Our friends Deb and Craig moved out to Eugene, Oregon a couple of years a go and we’ve never visited them. Why? Many reasons, theres nothing even resembling a direct flight to Eugene from DC. We were busily preparing for this trip a good part of the time they have been out there. And, I am highly allergic to Hippies.

Of course, being only a few hours north in Portland we were obliged to pay them a visit, they are some of our best friends after all, and boy did it paid off big! Details will follow, but hold on a minute while I set the stage.

Eugene is a College Town par excellence. The University of Oregon owns this town and dominates just about every facet of life in it. It is also widely known as the hippy capitol of the Pacific Northwest. I don’t know if it’s old growth forest, the generally laid back lifestyle of people here, or the mushrooms that seem to grow everywhere, but there are tons of them here. To quote Bill Paxton from “Aliens” – “There’s movement all over the place! Game Over Man, Game Over!” Except in Eugene he would be talking about Hippys, not Aliens that would one day go on to fight the Predator – Twice.

One more thing to know – hippies make great food. Ergo, there is a lot of great organic, non-GMO’ed, free range food in Eugene. I will speak of only one of them – the best one in my opinion – the Pizza Research Institute. A high fluting name if you ask me, but what else would you call a pizza place that serves corn-on-the-cob on a pizza? They are out there doing the kind of research that just can’t get funding here on the east coast, maybe one day we will all benefit from their sacrifice.

Anyway, this place is out there – in a good way! The menu has a Periodic Table of Ingredients, complete with a column for the “Noble Vegetables” (they have put some thought into this). And if you go, and you should, do yourself a favor and put yourself in the lovin’ hands of the Chef and order a Chef’s Special. Fifteen (15) ingredients of the chef’s choosing on one pie. If listed out, the strange combinations would turn off most people (Peaches and Walnuts on a pizza, egad man!), but when administered by these Researches, it all works.

If you go to Eugene, go to the Pizza Research Institute. Call Craig and Deb and see if they can join you, but go to PRI for the love of Pete.

Hippy Dippy Do – Rishikesh

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The Beatles Slept Here

The Beatles Slept Here

Rishikesh is a smallish town set on the Ganges at the foothills of the Himalayas. In part due to it’s “auspicious” location it’s a pilgrimage site for Hindus. But of late there are a lot of other people here besides Hindus.

In addition to being “auspicious” the location is gorgeous, the hills ascend up from the river dramatically with high banks on either side, in the middle there are a pair of pedestrian bridges that link the two sides of town, and there are Hindu Temples all around, it’s quite picturesque.

Which begins to explain why since the mid-sixties westerners have been coming here in droves. You can blame it on The Beatles. They came here in their Maharishi phase (and wrote much of “The White Album” here), along with the Beach Boys and an assortment of Hollywood types.

Since word has gotten out about the place it seems it’s been hard to keep the flow of Westerners away. And the folks here are pretty smart – the over building that seems to happen in many Indian cities has been kept to a minimum, people are fairly respectful of you, even the Touts are almost polite as they try to sell you things you don’t want or have no use for.

LeeAnne and I have been here the better part of a week chilling out, doing some Yoga, and generally “re-grouping” (Re: Recovering from a cold in her case, and a nasty stomach something in my case). Luckily this is a very good place to do just this sort of thing.

Which may be why half of Israel is here. I swear, we’ve had an opportunity to learn as much Hebrew as Hindi since our arrival – it’s almost laughable. I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I say 8 out of 10 westerners in town are Israeli hippies. Before you say it – I know, I know – if you don’t like hippies don’t go to the greatest population center of hippies in India of all places, but here I am.

As for the Yoga, let’s say their idea of “Beginners” level classes here are not the same as ours in the States. In the second class the instructor started off the class by having people do headstands, you know, where you stand on your head!?! Half of the people in the class still had money-belts on. But surprisingly, some people pulled it off. I have now idea what the hospital bills were like.