While I no longer experience daily pangs of homesickness for Champaign, nights like tonight remind me of the things I do miss about living there.  In my four years in Champaign, I never lived further than a 15 minute walk from the downtown area – an easy stumble home from a handful of bars, restaurants, coffee shops, music venues, and a great movie theater.  In Alexandria, a fantastic restaurant and our favorite coffeeshop/bakery were just around the corner.  We have yet to find those favorite spots in Ann Arbor, and when we do, they’ll be at least a 20 minutes walk that manages to be up hill both ways.

So after a full day of work and a 2 1/2 hour drive to Cleveland, it was really nice to walk a few blocks to Prosperity with Steve and Kate.  We’d had dinner on the road, but by 10:30 were snackish again, so we split the pork empanadas – delicious pockets of meat and veg served with rice and pineapple salsa.  I’d like to go back when I’m more awake – by the end of the evening, 3/5 of us were literally falling asleep at the table – but that will have to wait until next time.  In the interim, I will continue to long for a third place (or a Galaxy Hut) in our neighborhood.