Aside from the lack of a 3-second delay (very key in Colorado) between when my traffic light turns red and the opposing direction turns green (making running yellow lights on a bike a bit treacherous), the absence of many big box stores and a shopping center (Target is the most notable of these... even though there is a major distribution center just 15 miles East... Go figure!), and the complaints I hear about how far "Southtown" (the part I live in) is from town proper (a beautiful 15 min bike ride through two riverside parks or a scarce 7 minute drive from the city center... please, let's redefine "far"). Yes, despite all these minor complaints...
Impression #1: Saturday Market. Boulder had one of these. I went occasionally, but often it seemed to me that the produce I got from the market (with a few exceptions) was the same quality I could get from Whole Paychecks or Wild Oats anytime of the week and no cheaper. I went mainly for the ethnic food and the periodic art festivals that sprang up among the food vendors. And it was crowded. Corvallis on the other hand is set on a fairly wide street. It boasts some of the best people watching I've ever encountered. There is cheap, farm fresh produce, meat, wine, cheeses, jams, honeys, eggs and flowers. All brought to you by rough hands and carharts. This is where I saw my first green eggs, got my first taste of marionberry jelly, nibbled my first sheep cheese (once you go sheep, you'll never go...). And lest I forget, you can also meet a black guy.
Jeremy and Tara Stand of the Bronx, with 1-year-old son Osiris, pose with Corvallis resident Jeff Oliver at the Meet a Black Guy booth near the Saturday Corvallis Farmers’ Market. -Corvallis Gazette TimesComing soon: Meet a Missourian
Impression #2: Berry Picking. Rare is the backyard in this town that doesn't have a blueberry bush, a cherry tree, apple trees, rasberries, or strawberries. I heard a story last Thursday from a guy who had seen a cherry tree overhanging the fence of a friends backyard. So, the tree didn't belong to the friend, but the friend urged this guy to go ahead into the neighbors back yard and pick as many cherries as he wanted... "they won't mind". So this guy takes a bucket over to the tree one evening and starts picking cherries. The residents also come out and pick some cherries this evening and they run into each other in the backyard. Rather than be angry or bemused at the finding a person in their backyard, they realize that they know each other, happily pick cherries, pit some, munch, and chat well into the evening. This also illustrates another small town fact that the "seven degrees of Kevin Bacon" is more like the "three degrees of Kevin Bacon" around here.
Blueberry picking at Anderson Farms, 0.5 miles from Corvallis.Total haul: 5 lbs (for $6.25) in my bucket. 1/2 lb in my belly.
Impression #3: Workaholics. These are a rare breed. The halls of the office are vacant by 5:30 pm. Everyone is instead, very efficient at work in order to get out the door to berry picking, family, the rope swing on the Alsea river, or to hit the trails. You will see people making a conference call from a camp site after mountain biking for five hours. Stopping in at a wifi hot spot to send off a work e-mail. Or my personal favorite, pull up on a road ride for a few minutes to send off an important text message. Because I frequently use my runs and rides to think through science questions as work or organize my thoughts on a particular experiment, I feel a bit of kinship for this type of work ethic. I call it the Get Out approach to working. Enjoy your work, but enjoy your life more.
So Corvallisians, I get it. The never-ending rain (to bring on the fruity bounty), the eight hours of daylight in the winter (more than compensated for by the 16-hours of daylight in the summer), and the 30+ coffee shops in a town of 50,000 (to fuel the awesomeness to be had in 16 hours of daylight). Props for sticking out that winter.
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