Benton County

I am a New England transplant who in 1992 moved to Oregon to attend to Oregon State University, located in Benton County.  My plan was to major in Crop Science; people need to eat so that's built-in job security.  Except all my fellow crop science students grew up on farms and I did not.  That put me at a decided disadvantage for crop and weed identification; which is maybe important for a successful farm.  So I went into a major with fewer job prospects: Soil Science.

     

      Corvallis is a very nice city and I loved living there.  However, my job being an hour drive away led me to make the hard the decision to move.  That was 13 years ago.  I rarely visit Corvallis these days and when I do it is always a very deliberate act.  I have been several times this year to enjoy a meal at Nearly Normal's and American Dream Pizza and got my bike tuned up at Cyclotopia.  And I absolutely try to walk through the Oregon State campus to see what has changes since I graduated. 

      

    One of these trips was back in February, when I went to Corvallis on my birthday.  The reason for driving there was it was my day off, the kids were in school and I needed to pick up a backpack that I left at a meeting in Albany, which could be considered Corvallis' Springfield. 

     I hopped in my wife's 1964 VW Bug with the dog and made a day of it. The Bug is a vehicle that takes some concentration to drive and at highway speeds it is quite loud.  But it is a kick to drive in town when the weather is good, as it was that day.  Backpack retrieved from the Linn County Courthouse, I went downtown Corvallis and hit the Starbucks.  Visiting downtown is a treat.  Unlike where I live, downtown Corvallis has thriving businesses and it is fun to amble around.