My trip to Duneland

[chanaleh]

Actually, it was really nice.

Quintessential trip-home things I managed to do:

Go through a small emotional freakout upon entering the Region. (I think it's seeing billboards with 219 area codes that really brings it, well, home to me.) I don't know how to explain it, at least in brief, but it's always surreal when I first get there. Re-entering another universe, the one I left behind.

Visit the actual Dunes: that is, the lakeshore (though only for one brief stop Sunday evening, since the weather turned so cool and rainy in the days after that). Wade in Lake Michigan up to my knees, at least.

Eat at Round the Clock (twice!). With all the wonderful things that Boston has, why is it that we lack for Greek diners -- er, "family restaurants"?

Visit with my remaining high school friends in Valparaiso: Lisa (of "Muffin!" fame) and Theresa.

Walk around downtown Valpo. Have coffee at Anneliesje's, the successor to my late lamented Coffee & Tea Market. Have lunch with Auntie Faith (one of my mom's best friends, who lived a few blocks away when we were growing up).

Drive past all my old schools. (But not down Napoleon Street, thankyouverymuch.)

Step inside my home congregation (not during a service, just to see the building) for the first time in several years.

Have some good, even teary, talks with my dad. Feel loved.

Things I did for the first time:

Pick up a good cup or so of limestone and agate pebbles off the beach, with the idea of turning them into earrings or some such. [Anyone Boston-local have a rock tumbler/polisher I could press into service?]

Visit the completely remodeled Valparaiso Public Library (I didn't even know they had torn the old building down). Buy used books at the Friends of the Library sale room.

Buy still more used books at the new used bookstore downtown.

See Lisa's little sister for the first time since, probably, Lisa's wedding ten years ago. She's almost 20 now. When I first met her, she was still in diapers. Unreal.

Meet Lisa's youngest (third) kid, who is three and a half already. Play swings and softball with all of them in the backyard.

Go out for sushi (there, that is). Get Lisa to eat sushi (she was a tremendously good sport and actually liked it).

Drag Theresa on a walk around VU. Buy a t-shirt.

Go to the Chesterton Art Fair. My stepmother very sweetly bought me a pottery piece (my choice, a coffee mug) as an early birthday present. I was touched.

Tour the Chesterton Art Gallery, and the Valparaiso Art Academy (also a gallery). The area supports a surprising quantity of semiprofessional artists, believe it or not. Lots of nature scenes, lots of dunes/seascapes. It made me want to buy a set of oil pastels. Maybe for my next project.

Visit the Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve, near my dad's house. (I'd link to invisible__girl's lovely pictures of the place, but almost none of you would be able to see them, so never mind.)

Watch the video of Lion. Go us!

Watch my dad's wedding video. (Uh.) Their 5th anniversary will be this November.

Things I completely failed to do:

Go bowling and/or drinking at Inman's with Theresa and get hit on by skeevy redneck guys.

Get ice cream at Brown's Dairy (if it's even still in business).

Visit my aunt and cousin in Chicago, or my other cousin in Joliet.

Track down and visit Hillary in Berwyn, IL.

Track down and try to visit struct, who may or may not be back around Oak Park.

Visit Chicago at all, for that matter (besides traveling to and from O'Hare).

Drive over to Rochester to visit Sierra's mom.

Drive down to Indy to visit Brent (or even, conceivably, Chris).

Drive all the way down to Vincennes to visit Joyce, like she's often asked me to.

Call etrace every two hours round the clock and leave messages until he is forced to answer and talk to me for the first time in years. *sigh*

Find the synagogue in Michigan City, or be there anytime the one in Valpo is actually open.

Meet up with invisible__girl!! Arrgh. I chalk this up to transportation-related scheduling issues.

Things I will try to remember to do next time:

Rent a car, no matter what my dad suggests. It's the only thing that gives me the degree of autonomy and control I have become accustomed to in my adult life.

Stay with Lisa and have dinners with Dad, not the other way around. ;-)

Schedule my trip to coincide with the I-am-not-making-this-up Popcorn Festival and/or Feast of the Hunter's Moon. (Unfortunately, I think this will only be possible in a year when the chagim are extra-late.)

Visit longer (to accommodate items on the previous list).

Visit sooner!

Yesterday I did laundry and groceries and got a personal mini-tour of the MIT Museum and took a walk that was both highly enjoyable and, just possibly, important in the grand scheme of things.
And then I spent over an hour in shul and went to a Shabbat dinner for a sheva brachot. The tradition is that unmarried friends present should drink from the bride's or groom's cup, to bring luck in finding one's own match. I drank. From your mouth to G-d's ears.

Today I spent 7.5 out of 12 hours in shul, in two shifts; heard sheva brachot two more times; and, between times, got the program for this year's Hugos mostly designed. Go me.

Tomorrow: brunch with jonathanjo; afternoon jaunt down to RI for sanpaku's housewarming (hope the rain isn't too awful); then a long-awaited Menschen rehearsal (I've been absent for weeks).
Monday: back to work! Oy.

Comments

[navrins]

Diners are good. New Jersey's full of them; Boston area not so much. There are a couple near Davis, a decent one in Arlington, a few others here and there. But they're scarce.

I also got dragged to a sushi place. Didn't eat sushi, though.

[undauntra.livejournal.com]

Peter's Kitchen
Corner of Mass Ave and Egerton Rd in Arlington.
Greek diner. Good, cheap food.

hope the sheva brachots went well

[musicjill.livejournal.com]

I was too sick to go; but am feeling better. Dan was a sweetie and stayed home and took care of me *all day* and even got us some good groceries :)

I am getting better; I've finally turned the corner -- should - heck- I *will* be well enough to go dress shopping this upcoming weekend!

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

"Dragged". You heathen. ;-)

[bluebythebook.livejournal.com]

Coffee Creek Watershed Preserve Pictures - which anyone can see. :-D

I'm surprised I didn't run into you at Round the Clock! I've eaten more meals there this summer than at any other Region restaurant.

I'm glad you enjoyed the trip and got to experience some new things.

Maybe I'll visit Boston next summer, in between graduating with my Bachelor's and entering grad school? I'm sure I'll need a vacation after all of that. ;-)

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Pictures! You rock! :-) I loved it -- the amphitheater pavilion and the waterfall and the boardwalks.

Both my RtC trips were to the new Chesterton one, too. Heh.

You should totally come visit. Anytime you want, I've got floor space.

[bluebythebook.livejournal.com]

If I ever get married, it's gonna happen at that amphitheatre. *dreamy sigh*

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Hey, y'know, built-in chuppah ;-)

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

Hey -- we're really excited you're coming! "They" are saying the rain will be heaviest around 7-9 am, so afternoon should not be too bad, just really muggy. An excuse to see if the air conditioner works.

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize you're doing the Hugo program! I'm doing the nominee certificates, we could have tried to coordinate them. Though I'm sure we're both using the same logo... :-)

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

With all the wonderful things that Boston has, why is it that we lack for Greek diners

mangosteen and I have had the same lament. While I was attending BU, I had a pipe dream of opening an all-hours diner that was larger and had better food than either Mal's (breakfast & lunch only) or the place in Kenmore Sq. that is now gone (hated it and so have forgotten the name). I'd import Greeks from Long Island to run it and I'd just handle the promotion. Simple.

Rosebud (Davis Sq) is okay, but a little too greasy-spoon for regular eating. I haven't been to Kelly's (??) on Broadway down from Soundbites. Mmmmm...Soundbites.....

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

I've been to Kelly's (usually defaulting out of the line at Sound Bites), and I liked the food okay; but it's distinctly built on the morning-to-afternoon Diner model that you do find around here, not the 24-hour Family Restaurant model that we miss.

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

Ahhhh...clarity ensues.

Perhaps that business model might not be such a bad idea. The demand may very well exist.

Hmmm...imagine mangosteen, kalessin, and ablock as greeters, geeking around the front counter as people come in. Whee! A Geek Diner! [ducks]

[lifecollage.livejournal.com]

Wireless at every table! LAN-and-waffle parties! Open Christmas Day with back-to-back movies and our own chinese-style food! The possibilities are endless!

.....okay, done now. And I believe I've fininshed channeling my Beloved. Eeek. Married-brain strikes again.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Tresca's in Watertown Square is a pretty damn good diner, though I think it's run by Armenians. Reminds me of the Golden Donut.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Tresca's is run by Italians. Specifically, my (great-)Uncle Ronnie and my (second-)cousin Michael. See, Ronnie is married to Mary Tresca, nee Caruso, whose sister is Grace Osmond, nee Caruso, who is my grandmother.

[chanaleh.livejournal.com]

Field trip!!!

[awfief.livejournal.com]

good to know. Did I mention it's a good diner? :)

[awfief.livejournal.com]

hon, if we ever do girls night, we can do it at my place and do tresca's for breakfast. They don't do lunch on weekends, and never do dinner.

diners on the brain

[sanpaku.livejournal.com]

That thing about Greek diners and night food really got to me when we lived in Boston -- it seemed like such a no-brainer that such a place must exist, but we never could really find it. I think we found something downtown near South Station but it was hard to get to. We used to theorize that the evil Bickford's had destroyed all the decent diners in Massachusetts.

Providence has a cute little truck-wagon diner downtown open late night; there's also a bona fide diner near us that is open from 11 am to 3 pm for the patrons and workers of the topless bars down there. (We just came back from having lunch there!) There are also tons of great breakfast-lunch diners. The best places I've found, though, are a bit of a drive -- Al Mac's in Fall River and the Ocean Pizza in New London. Yeah, for an actual Greek diner, you have to go to Connecticut, which is full of them.

However, our late-night diner needs have declined dramatically since, oh, about November 2002 or so. :-)

Hope whatever had you down looks a little better today...