Flying to Eugene: You should fly to the Eugene airport, code EUG. There are direct flights connecting Eugene to Seattle, Portland, Salt Lake City, Denver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles, even Chicago. In my personal experience, if you fly through San Francisco then your flight will be delayed and you will miss your connection, so try to find another option if possible. It is also possible to fly to Portland, which is a little over a two hour drive from Eugene - there are also shuttles and a train which can get you from Portland to Eugene, but this is typically more complicated then just flying directly to Eugene. However, if you are being reimbursed for transportation and wish to fly to any airport other than EUG, this needs some prior discussion with our financial guru (e.g. comparison fares). The same goes if you're not flying on the expected dates (arriving August 7th, departing August 12th or 13th), or if you aren't flying a US carrier. Please contact Ben.

Airport to Campus: There is no public transportation from the airport, so you'll have to take a cab, which should take about twenty minutes and cost about $30. Cabs in Eugene are run by a host of private companies, some better than others. Avoid Oregon Taxi if you can. If they ask which route to take, just say to take 99. Since a lot of you will be arriving around the same time, you might consider trying to find each other at the airport and sharing a cab. We will try to help coordinate.

Accommodations: We will be putting up most participants in a hotel, rooms available for checking on August 7 and checkout on August 13. It will be the Holiday Inn Express at 2117 Franklin Boulevard. They should have a reservation under your name.
Note: Franklin Boulevard is the one ugly street in town, but that's where all the hotels are. So it goes. There aren't any good restaurants near there! Please don't try to eat in the places on Franklin nearby (maybe an exception or two). There are better restaurants downtown and near the university, see below. One thing which is close by is a decent local supermarket (Market of Choice) and a pharmacy/convenience store (Hiron's).

Getting around town: During the conference you will be able to walk everywhere you need to go. However, based on the location of the hotel, it may be especially convenient to use the city bus. The EmX route (click here for link to timetable) runs every 10 minutes during most of the day, every 15 minutes in the evening. It is 3 minutes from the hotel (Walnut Station) to the lecture room (Dad's Gates), and another 10 minutes from there to the heart of downtown. Tickets are 3.50 for a day pass, ticket machines are at the station. You have to prepay before getting on.

If you are staying longer in Eugene or in Oregon for recreational purposes, it is easy to rent a bicycle, and car rentals (within the city, not from the airport) are decently cheap.

Food: We will provide some catered breakfast options and coffee at the conference. Participants are on their own for other food costs, and there are many restaurants on 13th street near the conference to eat lunch at. The intention is to have a pizza party on Wednesday evening in a local park, paid for by the conference.

Restaurant recommendations: look here.

Eugene is a beautiful place to visit in the summer. The exception, of course, is when there are nearby wildfires. In the last few years, there has been at least one week a summer when Eugene is filled with unhealthy amounts of smoke due to forest fires in Oregon or Washington state. We can only cross our fingers and hope that it doesn't happen this August. When we have a better plan for this eventuality, we will let you know.

Please, please take a covid test before you depart home for your travel. It is much nicer to have to quarantine at home!

We are assuming that participants will follow CDC and local state guidelines regarding Covid. We won't be adding any policies of our own. However, I ran a conference a month ago, and about twenty percent of participants ended up getting Covid (although not testing positive or showing symptoms until the day after the conference, which is what you expect if you catch it on day 1 of the conference). For this reason, I am trying to set up the catering outside, and masks are encouraged indoors.

The University of Oregon offers free PCR (saliva) testing for Covid at Chiles Hall, no appointment necessary (but the hours are weird). The website is here. The turnaround time is usually around 24 hours, though it can take longer.

On Wednesday we will hike up Spencer Butte, from the Martin St. trailhead. It is not a trivial hike: about 3 miles one way, 6 miles round trip, and about 1500 feet of elevation gain. I estimate you will want to bring at least two bottles of water for yourself (I bring four). Sunscreen is also important, and decent walking shoes.

We will take the 1:37PM bus, route 28, from the UO Station South stop (between 13th and 14th on Kincaid), website here. The bus costs 1.75 dollars each way, with no change given, though people can and should pay en masse to save the driver time. Don't miss the bus, because the next one is not until 2:37PM. Even at 2:37PM, there would be enough time to summit and return and be late to the pizza party.

A final note. There is lots of poison oak on the trail, with large bushes of it at the summit. Google it so you know what it looks like. Stay away! Stay on the trail. When poison oak is red it is obvious, but when it is green it looks innocuous.

On Wednesday evening we will have a pizza party in University Park, which is roughly at 23rd and University. There will also be salads and water available.