Place

Lately, I've been thinking about place --- where do I find comfort, what type of environment do I want to live in, and places that I miss. My brain keeps turning to Chicago since that is where I have lived the longest in my adult life. I miss wandering the city on days when I didn't feel so great. I could take an architecture tour and instantly lose myself in another time or in the details of a particular neighborhood. Belmont rocks staring out at Lake Michigan. Walking around the Cultural Center. Sitting at Salt & Pepper and eating some diner food. Even the place would change based on the time I lived in Chicago. Some of those locations probably weren't the healthiest since it involved drinking all day at Joe's on Broadway with neighborhood characters, such as the guy who would chew up his thumb. Mindless browsing of the used cd's at Reckless Records or the sale section at Unabridged Bookstore are all ways that I would shake whatever was going on.

Either I didn't live in Eugene long enough or there wasn't enough space for me to move around in but I had a hard time finding the same comforts. I would usually wander to High Street to read the paper, drink a pint and eat some tots in front of the fire. Or, I would drive around the countryside or the hills surrounding Eugene. The dog probably received longer walks as I stared at the buttes surrounding the town.

New Jersey? I definitely enjoyed driving to Weehawken and staring across the Hudson River at Manhattan. I could get a less impressive view from my neighborhood, but I usually needed to get out of my area. Walking around the West Village certainly helped. I would put together my own tours of neighborhoods by researching architectural, cultural and political history of a neighborhood mixed in with some food and drink. It usually wasn't a solitary event since I would drag Mary with me.

Portland. Definitely going to Powell's and wandering around for awhile. Yesterday, I tried to duplicate the comfort I felt from Salt & Pepper by going to Fuller's Coffeeshop for breakfast. It helped but it made me even more homesick for Chicago.

As I walked around Boston on my last morning in the city, I visited familiar places. It is what started the thought of place and what I need in my surroundings. I need history, interesting architecture, bookstores, an urban feel, bars with good beer on tap, and people I admire to fill those spaces.