The town I live in.

Cow-town. That's right. I live in the Oregon equivalent of Greeley, CO. But, talk to any resident of Greeley (ahem, Leah) and they will extol the virtues of their town. So, I will attempt to give the city-girl impression of Corvallis, OR now that I have lived here for a bit.

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 Times

Coming 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.

Slurpee Heaven

Did you know that Sonic has a happy hour?  1/2 price slushies and cream slushies from 2-4.  Of course, I never knew this because I can't remember a time when I was not working or training or cleaning my house during this time.

But when you are on vacation, especially in the town where you used to live, you discover an astonishing subculture coexisting, facets of society that I never encountered before.  Sitting on Pearl St. in the mid-afternoon, I observed a strange mix of second-hit-of-caffeine-suits (or what passes for a suit in Boulder) on coffee break, parents taking kids to the small play-parks that dot the walking street, those lucky people who work from home, and tourists (in which group I guess I fall).  This last group are particularly easy to pick out if you are a professional people watcher like me.

And people-watching, incidentally, is one of Sarah and my favorite pass-times. So, last Wednesday we spent an afternoon browsing the offerings at Urban Outfitters, having barguments (arguments best had after 2 beers, on sunny afternoons on a park bench, or after three cream slushies at the Sonic), and observing and commenting on the downtown fauna.  We also did a fair amount of what the French call faire du lèche-vitrine, or literally translated as window-licking.  Finally ending up in the Borders, our second bookstore of the afternoon.  And if you know me, you know I can't pass up a good bookstore... 

I am now the proud owner of "Portrait of an Unkown Woman" by Vanora Bennett and "A Year of Food LIfe" by Barbara Kingslover.  When I will have time to read these, who knows.  But I finally finished "The Birth of Venus"by Sarah Dunant and it was wonderful.  A light-hearted read that seamlessly weaves references to Renaissance artists, political figures, and historical events.  So that I almost felt smarter for reading a historical romance.  

Orange, Strawberry, and Grape cream slushies.  For the record, grape tastes like you would think it would (not like a grape at all) and orange is the best.

Thanks Sarah for an awesome afternoon!  It was just like old times and a veritable shot in the arm for me!