Recently I made a trip to a destination I’ve been
at 9 times already.
I can honestly say I was both surprised and
disappointed in my trip to this midwestern city. While the trip was amazing and
I enjoyed the scenic views, the hours following the trip were quite a letdown.
You see, I kind of expect there to be food and
places open at midnight on a Thursday in the downtown area of a city. Thursday
nights are quite popular for college students and the likes, and this
particular city was home of quite a big Division 1 school. So, why the heck was
nothing open for us to eat at? It was almost eerie how desolate and deserted
the blocks surrounding the venue and our AirBNB were. I almost wondered if
there was some reason for it or something else big was going on in a different
part of the city.
Luckily, our trip was salvaged the next day
because of our visits to local restaurants. I’m quite of good foods, so
trying out new foods in different environments and restaurants was my kind of
trip. From sours and darts to IPAs and charcuterie boards, that Friday made up
for the disaster Thursday night ended up becoming.
By the way, did I mention we had to traverse
the cold that Thursday night only to end up getting snacks at a gas station? It
was literally the only place we could find in walking distance that had food.
While walking beneath interstates and seeing the multitude of cardboard boxes
was enough to put a damper on the evening, snacking on gas station chips
further amplified how crummy the night ended up being.
But as I like to think, one bad turn of events
doesn’t need to determine the outcome of an entire trip. The next day went
quite well with the various places we visited, and the city seemed livelier
than the night before. (Much at the expense of that city, we kept joking about
how all the restaurants would be closing down around 5 p.m.)
