"My Albany, Oregon Page" Albany by klarson

In July, 2002, I moved from Kailua-Kona, Hawaii to Albany, Oregon. Why, you might ask? Well, at the time, I had a girlfriend who lived there. (Things have changed, and I have since moved back to the Chicago area in January 2003.)

Albany is in Lynn County, where signs proclaim it as the "Grass Seed Capital of the World." Wowee. The picture above was taken from my back porch, and shows a common practice here in the late summer. The farmers burn off the stubble of their grass fields, producing giant plumes of smoke that turn into clouds on top.

The view below as I take off in hot air balloon.

One thing that I really did enjoy in Albany was the annual Arts and Air Festival, held in August. I volunteered to help "crew" for a hot air balloon team. For three days, I got up very early to help them set up the balloon and launch it. It was a lot of fun, especially as they let me ride in the hot air balloon one of the days. We got up to almost a mile up in the sky! Way cool!

I think there were a total of about 45 balloons launched each of the three days of the festival. The picture at left shows a number of them in the process of being launched. I took this picture as we soared into the sky in our balloon!

• Pros:Mild winters, sunny dry summers, lots of stores
• Cons:Rain, rain, and more rain - All winter!, high unemployement
• In a nutshell:Hot, dry summers, and mild, rainy winters