of apples and bypasses

I'm munching on a Corland apple for lunch today. This weekend at the grocery store, I noticed my beloved Nittany apples weren't in their usual spot, and suddenly feared losing them altogether, so figured I should probably branch out now, while I have the chance. I'm finding the Corlands to be a bit too soft for my tastes. But sweet, which is good. I thought the Nittanys were local, which is why I first picked them up--I prefer to buy local if it's convenient, which is why I love the concept of Stone Soup. Unfortunately, Stone Soup's not always convenient for grocery shopping, nor do they always have the produce I commonly eat. Upon a quick Google search, though, I find out that the Nittany apple is actually grown in New York, usually, and is a hybrid combining Golden Delicious and York. Whatever they are, Nittanys make excellent apples: crisp, clean, and sweet.

I ran to Lemont again a few minutes ago to mail off another little package: a small gift based on the spoon theory, which I'll go into in more detail here later (if I remember). It occurred to me then how well I know the area and how many methods I know to get to wherever I'm going around here. I love getting to that point when living somewhere long enough. Here, though, I can mark it in periods: pre-bypass and post-bypass, and pre-Blue Course Drive extension and post-.

When I got here, Atherton (Route 322) was the main drag through town. Moreover, it was the only drag all the way through town. There was literally no option if you wanted to go from the north part of town to the south part of town, or vice versa (despite 322 running east/west). During this time, I learned all the little back-alley ways to cheat that (Corl Street, for example--which has since been closed, I believe, for the part that actually connects it all the way through the south stretch, though it had always been closed in winter, since it wasn't maintained for snow). I learned to cut through Lemont to get to the mall or Bellefonte, which is also how I discovered the post office out there, which nowadays is much more convenient for me to hit up during my lunch hour, since the State College post office usually has huge lines and is downtown, so traffic can be a bit irritating.

I have my friends to thank for these tricks, and I'm thankful I made them so quickly, and that they were native, having lived here a long time (as opposed to the transient student population). I'm also thankful (though wasn't, necessarily, at the time) that one of those early-made friends lived outside State College, so I got to see more than just the immediate area.

Then the 322 bypass was finished, and sure is helpful. You can now get from the north side to downtown much more quickly, and getting to I-80 to go anywhere outside the state is also much more simple now. Then the Blue Course Drive extension was completed, giving folks a route around the other side, going north/south. Also extremely helpful. Both of these relieved some of the Atherton congestion.

I have to say, though, that I'm thankful I lived here previous to both projects. I would've never discovered so much around the area otherwise.

Nor could I get places as fast as I do now.