(A blurb I wrote about our outing in the burbs last weekend.)
As we drove out of the city we enjoyed the beautiful view of the river at our side and the city scape behind us. The green space increases and you can see a little further out here. We turn off of the freeway and onto the very wide streets. They increase 4 fold from the narrow city lanes. We head to our happy hour dinner destination and to my surprise we pull into a very large parking lot and to my delight there is a parking spot right up front. There’s no circling the block and walking a ways to the front door. No, we are within a few strides of the front door. And then, not one but three people opened the doors for us and gave us a hearty hello as if they had been waiting for us and were delighted to see my smiling face. The building was new, and clean. They were all dressed in the same attire and very well kept. I didn’t see any sign of a hipster, no bearded man or tattooed lady behind the counter, waiting for me to place my order or come to my table to quickly see what I wanted. No, they greeted me, seated me and kept coming back with a smile to see how I was doing. I kind of like this treatment (and so few options, what only four beers on tap?) and sort of miss the smug bearded man behind the counter offering me one of the 40 beers on tap. As I began to look around I felt oddly out of place with all this attention from my server, people fashionably dressed around me while me and the hubs sat, me in my flannel and skinny jeans and he in his denim shirt. Toto, we are not in Portland anymore. Where are we you ask? Well my friends, we are in the suburbs.
It’s a love hate relationship that I have with the suburbs. It’s hard not to love the wide lanes, cleanliness, more green fields to drive by and to top it off, Sonic is only a short drive away. It’s the little things.
But alas, tomorrow we go home. Back to the city that we love. Our bike loving, bearded, delicious, quirky, food and drink establishments at every turn, colorful city. Burbs, you have been good to us. See you next time.