I had an extremely enjoyable evening chatting with Craig on Friday night while wandering around old C-town haunts. Cloverland Park was our first target, where we found that the play structures had been completely replaced with a plastic abomination. The new structure did feature a sort of zip-line that we got to ride, however, so I can’t complain too much. There was an energetic little boy who liked to interact with us, and enjoyed showing us how the various “bouncy rides” (you know, like the pony that you get on and then…bounce/ride) worked. I postulated that the horse featured at the playground was not well-designed for an adult male, and Craig confirmed my hypothesis. I also learned that the famous seniors-only Last Chance Dance held at Harvard was “not sketchy at all”; sadly, I never got around to grilling Craig about toplessness in Greece.

After viewing two slugs post-coitus (it seemed…one’s head was near the other’s backside, so draw your own conclusions. I’ve seen slugs mating before, though, and it involved a hell of a lot more slime than was present in the park), we made our way to the new Riverfront Park. The last time I was at Riverfront Park was for the Fourth—a whole section of the place had been walled off for the annual Red, White, and Blues festival—so I was surprised to find that there’s a big ol’ water fountain in the park. The fountain consists of a wide section of walkway with inset jets that spray water directly up; the pattern of spray periodically changes (both location and strength of the spray), and the water is then drained via grates surrounding the fountain. Giant rocks surrounding the fountain form a sort of primitive stadium seating for the whole event, which I bet attracts quite a few people during the warmer days. The water was chlorinated (ugh), but it was neat regardless.

Craig noted that the benches at Riverfront Park don’t feature armrests every three feet, as they apparently do around Harvard (to prevent homeless people from sleeping on them). We wandered around downtown, and walked by the Platinum dance club; there was a salsa dance there that night. [Damn; I need to learn more Latin dances.] Craig was impressed that Corvallis supported a dance club at all.

Further wandering led us to WinCo Foods, where it’s never night, and the nearby Blockbuster store. I was greatly disheartened to see that the Blockbuster had become part of Beaver Nation, and now featured a giant Angry Beaver Head on the wall to your right just after you enter the store. The employees didn’t even bother to wear Blockbuster’s insipid blue and yellow uniform; it was as if they had been stripped of all pride.

Our wanderings ended where wanderings always end: Shari’s.

The place was rather quiet throughout our visit (we hit it before the late movies got out), but I did manage to see Molly, a gal I had worked with for one of my business classes, in a completely random event. I thought she had graduated, though…graduates don’t tend to like to stick around here. My strawberry milkshake was delicious.

It was definitely good to see Craig again.