Monday, June 09, 2008

Walk to Nowhere



I just went for a walk and after thirty minutes, I'm right back where I started.

I want to live somewhere that when a person leaves their house and walks for thirty minutes, they end up somewhere. In the evening, they might end up at a restaurant, a coffee shop or a bar that has a live band. During the day, they might arrive at a museum or an aquarium or a market.

I used to think I wanted to live at the beach, but I found out I'm not a loner after all. I like crowds and chaos and people with tattoos sitting on benches beside children holding balloons. I want to be in a dark funky bar listening to music with old barflies and young hipsters. I want street performers!

I want the French Quarter.

Or, Vegas. Vegas would work.

I've never been to New York City. Yeah, New York.

Yeah.

7 comments:

Lorna said...

You're not a loner? Are you sure? BTW, love your new hat.

Rebecca Hickman said...

Oh, Laurie-
You would LOVE New York! (And I'm sure New York would love you, too.)

Susan in St. Paul said...

Boston has all that. I used to live on Beacon Hill and you could walk everywhere, even see the seals outside the aquarium in the middle of the night.

You might like uptown Minneapolis, or even here in the city of St. Paul. Come to visit and we can walk somewhere fun!

Advocare Teresa In Beaumont said...

I figured you were that kind of person - that's why I keep coming back!

I used to live in the cutest little apartment in Deep Ellum just on the edge of Downtown Dallas. It was just as you described, but not real crowded. The closest place to do my grocery shopping was at the liquor store around the corner.

There were coffee shops, tattoo parlors, vintage clothing stores, the best lebanese restaurant with belly dancers & everything, street performers, art galleries.

It's where I first saw the Old 97's, Deep Blue Something, the Nixon's, even Hootie & the Blowfish before they won their Grammy and had that explosive year.

Al Cladwell has told me a story about playing keyboards for Gene Vincent and openiing for Elvis in Downtown Dallas.

But things have changed and I am hoping to get back and get some cheap rental space just before the upturn.

For now, I will settle for walking around the corner to hear the live music at Crazy Jose's.

TBM said...

Well, living in a country where the number one passtime seems to be walking, I have to say... it rules!

Steve said...

Having lived in Vegas, I'm sorry to report that it's not really anything like you'd imagine. Maybe if you lived on the strip it would work. Or possibly downtown. For the former, you'd have to be a billionaire. For the later, you'd almost certainly be homeless. When we lived in Connecticut, I really wanted to move to NYC. I'd still love to. Couldn't do NOLA, though, too much the same climate as Beaumont!

Laurie said...

Lorna - Loner? Nope. Who knew? (You did.) ;)

Rebecca - I must go there soon.

Susan - I even have relatives in Framingham. Perhaps, it's time for a visit.

Teresa - That's what I want exactly! By the way, my friend Dick occasionally plays live music at Crazy Jose's.

Just - I would love to never have to drive my car, except for long wonderful road trips.

Steve - I was definitely talking about "The Strip" when I was talking about Vegas. I'm not a fan of downtown Las Vegas though I, generally, like downtowns.

Regarding the weather, I would never move any further north than Dallas. I'm not a fan of cold weather. The desert would be perfection.