Goodbye Athens, Ohio

Have you ever noticed the longer you are somewhere, the fewer pictures you take? For being in Athens for four years, I have surprisingly few pictures from here. This was taken at Strouds Run State Park near Athens.At the end of next week I will end my time in Athens OH and head for balmy Austin (though Athens is feeling pretty balmy right now). I am very excited to go to Austin, but I will miss some things in this town. But mostly I think I have a dual personality about Athens.

I will miss being able to drive everywhere in town in 10 minutes and walking/biking many places. I won't miss having to drive 45 minutes to get to a mall or Petsmart, or 1 1/2 hours to get to the airport and other mainstays of modern life.

I will miss the mild long summer days, but cannot imaging missing the cold winters.

I will miss some of the great restaurants, but will not miss that all the great restaurants close by 9 (and are often closed several evenings a week).

I will miss being in a small city, but will not miss the spotty cell phone and wi-fi covewrage.

I will miss how much it rains, but I won't miss how many cloudy days there are (sounds odd but there are many cloudy days that don't involve rain).

I will miss the tall eastern trees and forests. I won't miss how barren the land looks when nothing has leaves for six months of the year.

I will miss the people from my lab, but I will be glad to no longer be in a college town.

I will miss being in a Democratic state, but I am glad to go back to the south.