Step Two: Ignore the Open Road for a Day and Rejuvenate in the Heartland; a Visit to Purdue

After arriving on Meg's doorstep in Lafayette, IN at dusk, I surrendered to her hospitality (and a glass of wine.) Day two of cross-country-palooza was spent walking Purdue University's lovely campus. Coming from Philly, all I could think about was how CLEAN it was, and how the students think nothing of throwing themselves into oncoming traffic when they have a mind to cross the street.

Purdue has a building for everything. Everything. I found the impressive Neil Armstrong Hall of Engineering building and thought I had found where all the engineers nest during the day, until I tracked a bunch of Civ students with their tripods to the Civil Engineering Building, and came across the Electrical Engineering Building, the Agricultural and Biological Engineering Building, and the Biomedical Engineering Hall. There's an entire avenue devoted to the study of horticulture, forestry, agriculture, and landscaping, and the Vet school has buildings for large animals, small animals, pathology studies, pathobiology studies, an Equine Health Sciences Building, etc. etc. etc...

I think the key to success in Lafayette is to buy stock in bricks.

You are now entering Boilermaker Territory.

Classical Architecture and Modern Art on campus.

The Purdue Fountain, a gift of the class of 1939. The sound of the water seemed to draw students, who perched and reclined and sat and crouched all about the fountain, deep in their books or their reveries.

One of the horticultural studies buildings, slowly consumed by the object of its fascination.

images: LCT Lafayette 2009