Independence

I don't remember a lot of non-beer-related stuff from college, but two things I recollect vividly are this (NSFW?) and the fact that anyone with a chisel and the slightest interest in amateur paleontology can go to Independence and dig for fossils from the Cretaceous period.  There's a railroad cut in a hillside just east of downtown Independence that yields all sorts of weird 53 million year old mollusks, and it makes a great third date.  Bring a picnic.  

My friend Michael and I went on a little kayaking trip last summer and our goal was to make it from Eugene to Independence in 4 days.  A killer sunburn and a freak spate of heavy rain cut our trip short so we settled on Albany after 3 days, but we had it all planned out perfectly.  Months before the trip, I scoped out the general downtown Independence area and found everything we needed:  A compact and vibrant downtown area, a serene and expansive waterfront park (with boat dock), and a bar within walking distance of the river.  Independence was supposed to be our stopping point, and our final night of river camping.  Therefore, we needed a place to celebrate that wasn't too far out of stumbling distance from our kayaks.  Stupid weird August weather prevented me from realizing my dream of drunk-kayaking so instead we rented a U-Haul out of Albany and went home to Portland.  

Downtown Independence is pretty much the perfect place, though.  Before I5 and US99 there was the Willamette River Highway.  And by that I mean that the Willamette River was the highway.  And by that I mean boats.  

I wish I could go back in time to 1890s Independence:  Walking the dirt streets of downtown awaiting the next steamship arrival with it's delivery of cotton and lumber, chatting with the local smithy about President Cleveland's tariff reform, complaining to the kids that music was SO much better in the 1880s--it would've been great.  

Mayor John McArdle autographed our map at the OMA, lucky for me.  I won't be in Independence until early August and this time I'm not getting in that kayak without sunscreen.

26 down, 216 to go.