11.6.09

Missing A2 #3: In Walking Distance

Here we resurrect our Top Ten Things We Will Miss About Ann Arbor. We had started this list last fall (click here for the others), and then it had fallen by the wayside, and we had actually forgotten what the last 3 things were. But after much hard thought, we have remembered.


Having grown up in Tennessee, there was no place to walk or even bike to. Everything was just too spread out. In fact, in early high school, my friend and I would bike over 2 miles down a shoulder-less road packed with semis, diving into the irrigation ditches whenever one came barrelling down. Why? Because we wanted to visit the Texaco station and buy a Dr. Pepper.

So the contrast couldn't be sharper, now that we have been in Ann Arbor, where the longest distances across town are comparable to the shortest distances in Metro Nashville. And from our house, we can walk to dozens of restaurants (as witnessed by our successful resolution to walk to a new restaurant every month), multiple parks, the Chinese and Mexican groceries, and numerous geocaches. Ann Arbor, like many older northern towns was built according to pre-automobile plans, and the proximity of everything has been a lot of fun.

Where will be able to walk to in Kenya? Time will tell.

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