Recently my Yahoo page offered one of their endless fluff photo essays (which I always waste a few minutes on) on the prettiest colleges in the U.S.  In what I was sure was an oversight, my alma mater, Ohio University, was not listed.  It just so happened that I took a recent road trip through beautiful Athens, Ohio and was pleasantly surprised at how well it aesthetically stood out even when compared to the University of VA (which I had just visited a few days prior and did make that stupid Yahoo list) as well as William and Mary (which I also had just visited).  Thomas Jefferson did not design OU (like he did with UVA), but OU is old in American terms (early 1800s) and is the tenth oldest US public university as well as the oldest college in the Northwest territories.  Although I attended OU for four great years, I had never approach the campus from W. Va which added to the charm.  Route 33, heading north-west from Ripley W. Va, snakes beautifully through the low hills and wide valleys of Ohio and W. Va.  Unfortunately the road loses some charm after Athens on its way to Columbus.  Take a gander at these photos and tell me if Yahoo missed the boat.