Farewell Breakfast

Our last Corvallis meal, breakfast at Nearly Normal's Gonzo Cuisine

Last Lunch at Cafe Yumm

*sadface*

Knight on the Town

Paul finished his exams yesterday so we decided to have a relaxing night out, fitting in a couple of our favourite Corvallis activities along the way.

First stop, McMenamins happy hour burgers, tots and beer

After annihilating our delicious and cheap (SO CHEAP OH MY SO CHEAP!) dinner, it was time to move on to the next phase of the evening...

Baseball! Our local team, the Corvallis Knights, were playing the Klamath Falls Gems at the field at OSU.

Chillin' with the Corvallis Knights knight

Pretzel

Crackerjacks! Oh, how I love weird American snacks.

In between innings, the knight chased a young girl with a loaf of bread

Of course, Raccoon was also in attendance

At the end of the 5th inning things weren't looking so great for the Knights, but we were a little excited because a huge freight train rolled right past the stadium. What a town!

Do people really need to be told?

Unfortunately the Knights didn't win in the end, but the atmosphere was pleasant and the snacks were plentiful so that made up for it. A perfect second-to-last night in Corvallis!

Artefacts

I am going to repatriate these in a park somewhere this afternoon as I don't think customs would look too kindly upon finding them in my luggage!

Tuesday

A quiet day here. Paul has one more exam to go and I'm trying to read my way through the huge pile of books I've acquired so I can jettison some before it is time to pack my suitcase.

In between study sessions we had lunch at Evergreen, an Indian restaurant downtown where we had our first Corvallis dinner. 

Graffiti spotting downtown

Home Sweet Home

Well, I'm back in Corvallis. Seasons are almost a little startling here - I was gone for seven days, and upon my return I found that the already decidedly green town is even more leafy than before. Go Spring! Or Summer, as I guess the case now is. The trees outside my window are almost unrecognisable, they became a completely different shade of green while I was away.

It is a bittersweet homecoming for me because we're actually leaving Corvallis for good on Friday. I'm not sure that it has entirely sunk in yet, but I am making sure to fit in some of my favourite Corvallis activities while I still can.

Some much needed greenery and tofu from Cafe Yumm

Dutch Bros and a good book

Yoghurt Extreme - this time I opted for the sugar free yoghurt with fresh fruit (if only because I expect this won't be the only Yoghurt Extreme visit this week).

Coffee Coffee Coffee Coffee

Chilly weather is very manageable with one of these in hand. Hot damn, am I going to miss the good folk at Dutch Bros when we go.

Funny Old Weather

Spring seems to be on hiatus here in Corvallis - it's cold and rainy again. We're driving through the mountains this afternoon to see Bright Eyes, Death Cab, and Jenny & Johnny play in an outdoor amphitheatre in Bend, OR. The forecast is grim, but I am optimistic that the great lineup will keep the temperatures from dwindling.

Doing the Earl of Sandwich Proud

I've had my eye on this tempeh reuben for a while. At lunchtime today, sandwich satisfaction was mine!

Dream House

My current favourite house in Corvallis, on the corner of NW 21st St and Jackson Ave.

Wetlandzzzzzzz

It was a lovely day out, so we decided to abandon the coffee shop and spend the afternoon exploring the wetlands (not to be confused with the saucy German novel of the same name. Incidentally, one of those Google search results described it as the two girls, one cup of novels - if you've read it, I'm sure you'll agree that is an apt description!). The Jackson-Frazier Wetlands are but a short bus ride away, at the edge of town, and the perfect spot for an afternoon escape from the city (of course, when referring to Corvallis, I say "the city" pretty lightly - I guess we must've felt like a break from the light smattering of polite pedestrians, and courteous drivers cruising along at 15 miles an hour).

Home of many insects, birds, foxes and coyotes

Down the path

Some moss/lichens/blossoms for Georgia!

 Underwater plants

Birdies were swooping around and landing on these rushes, but I wasn't quick enough to capture them

Trees!

 Contemplating swamp life

 The many tweetering birds were great, but these little guys were the winners of the day in my opinion. We found this one positively motoring along the path - I had to chase him down to get a photo. I suppose speed is important when there are so many hungry birdies swooping around!

In fact, I liked these furry friends so much, I made a wobbly little video of them -

Go little caterpillar!

Cat Watch

If the world does end tomorrow, I thought I should make sure to be wearing an appropriately grown up watch.

Thursdays at the Brew Station

Isn't it great when your favourite coffee shop also happens to be a bar with an appreciation for great beer? We started out on Thursday afternoon at the Brew Station (my preferred latte, and possibly also preferred Americano, in Corvallis), with some study and coffee:

... and raccoon, of course. I finished Annie Proulx this morning, and now I'm reading this book for my bookclub, about a bookstore that stocks only good literary fiction chosen by secret committee, and the blackmail, bribery and assassination attempts that result. Ah, booksellers! Hopefully I'll finish it in time to make it to the monthly meeting.

 At 3pm on Thursday afternoons, the Brew Station hosts a brewery tour, where a brewery offers samples of their delicious wares and pints of said delicious wares (or what Americans call pints - in Australian parlance, we're talking about schooners plus a little bit) are $3. Once a suitable amount of reading had been done, we joined the queue for a taste of the Alaska Brewing Co.'s offering. I'm already a great fan of their amber ale, so was eager to try the porter, pale and summer ales on offer this afternoon.

This was actually full of summer ale, and it was quite tasteful

 While enjoying a drink, we spent some time planning our final road trip before we fly home to Sydney. I am epically bummed out that it is time to start thinking of such things, but I am pretty darn excited about this trip. I won't say too much now, but seven days, five states, a variety of different national parks and deserts, and presumably a bunch of weird roadside eateries? Count me in! I've never really been to "the interior" before, so I'm pretty excited to see what happens in the middle of this great and bizarre country.

As the trip planning moved along, so did the sampling

 The trouble with beer is that it often leads to tempeh enchiladas...

... followed by frozen yoghurt covered in chocolatey bits. And now I'm lying on the couch, watching Everybody Loves Raymond and nursing my belly. 

Regular Scheduled Programming

After our weekend of excitement, it was time for Georgia to make her way across the country to Boston (east coast, boo hiss!), and so we've reverted back to our antisocial routine of books and coffee. I'm spending some time on the prairies with Annie Proulx, and if you're interested in the Cliff's Notes version of these short stories, let me just say that it is very hot and sandy, the people are very poor, and everybody dies. The end! I love the mythical quality of the plains and the West in America, and almost no one does it better than Annie.

Garden Buddies

We've been busy busy busy here and I have many photos to go through and exciting blog posts to write. All I will say now is, 90's cult TV show fans, hold on to your hats, because you are going to LOVE this! Until I get that all together, enjoy some more Corvallis garden snaps.

Bunnies and squiggles

Oregonians

Dino!

Back in Corvallis

Tree folk!

Mid-week Round-up: Addendum

Forgot to mention...

... we had hot dogs for lunch. Americans do good dill pickle!