Corvallis

Today, I had the chance to see some family members I hadn't seen for years. My uncle, aunt, and I met them for breakfast in town (Florence). We had a wonderful breakfast, talking and catching up with our each other's lives. 

Not long after I got back to the house, I decided to meet up with a few friends in Corvallis, which is a forty-minute drive north of Eugene, nearly two hours from Florence. 

The drive was interesting, yet intriguing. Once I got to Mapleton (about fifteen minutes from Florence), I was detoured through the mountains so that I ended up just north of Eugene (thanks to a landslide). A lot of the drive to Eugene was absolutely wonderful - the sharpest turns I've ever done in a stickshift (let alone any car) and the most beautiful scenery. 

Once I got to Corvallis, I finally found my friend, Maddy's, house. I spent the afternoon while Maddy (far left in picture) and her friend Kenzie (in the middle) showed me around downtown Corvallis. I'm still readjusting to driving stick, so sometimes I would stall for a few seconds, which made the three of us a tad nervous when meandering through the town. Fortunately, I'm getting the hang of it again. 

I saw the Oregon State University campus, ate my first Carl's Jr. burger since I lived in Cali back in 1994 or 1995, saw Corvallis High School, played at a local park, and walked into a lot of interesting places, including this one local coffee shop. Also, the three of us drove for several miles through the country outside of Corvallis and hung out for a while at Maddy's place. 

After watching some TV at Maddy's, I finally thanked her and Kenzie for a nice time in town, and I took an alternate, more towards-the-coast way back to Florence. 

Tomorrow, I plan to meet up with a UO math graduate student for coffee, tour the UO campus, request information for transfer students and graduate students, meet a friend in the south part of the city, and not truly sure from there.