I love Corvallis

My love for Corvallis grew even more today.

After biking around with Joey this weekend, and with the promise of less rainy weather I biked to work today. Its really not that far, and I have been feeling guilty for being an oil consumer, and being part of the reason for the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.
The route to get to work was incredibly less complicated than the route I took from our last house, its basically a straight shot. Not only that but I realized that all the major stoplights on my way have bicyclist sensors. No more waiting for a car to come signal the light to change, or having to push the pedestrian button. To top it off, the travel time totaled 15 minutes. It takes me 15 minutes driving. I don't want to ever drive again.

Corvallis also has very affordable day camp options. Ocean, Raine and Layke are coming in July to spend a month with us. I'm very excited. So I have been looking for some activities to do while I'm working, I plan to reduce my hours to between 24-32 or so, which leaves those hours to be filled. The Parks and Recreation Department of Corvallis offers day camps M-TH starting at $35/week. Some of the Day camps offered elsewhere just about cost enough that it wouldn't make sense for me to work at all between the camp fee, cost of special activities and all the time and energy running them around to various places.

Another thing I love about Corvallis. We went Strawberry picking this weekend. Heavenly. I made Strawberry Jam, froze some of them, and we ate plenty. But we quickly realized that we would need more Strawberry Jam. So we are going back this evening. There is a farm about 5 miles from our house.

Another thing I love is going places and being recognized, and treated like a friend. Today at work I took a group out for lunck and the owner and several of the workers recognized us, and wondered how we were doing and were very accompdating and very nice, just like we were their good friends. We hadn't been to that particular resturant in about 6 months or more. It was a pleasant surprise.

Corvallis doesn't have a Walmart. This is a fact that I love. We do have a Kmart, a Fred Meyer and several Safeways. But we we also have a fun food Co-op of which I am a member, and a wonderful downtown area filled with various locally run shops.

Corvallis has a wonderful farmers market. As I'm sure that many areas do. Ours is along the river front, and there is always fun life music.

Basicly I'm in love with Corvallis. We will eventually be moving to North Carolina to be closer to the kids, (and I'm sure I'll love Asheville) but for now I'm enjoying Corvallis to its fullest.