sandwalk

Kona...You've got me salivating!...Coffee and Ice Cream are my vices!! argh!! ..........Coffee Ice Cream, brother :) Now that is good!

I have heard great things about it! Now I'm gettin' antsy just waiting for it!!! :)

Oh jeez. I think some trees might be taller than our tallest buildings in Norwalk; then again, the grain elevator probably takes the cake :)

Hopefully we (Ohio) get it!

Sounds like a creepy encounter, MayDay! Luckily I've never had anything like that occur to me. Then again, who the hell would wanna stalk me :-P On a side note: When in Rome (in 2002) I sampled some Italian espresso........and damn! That stuff will wake you up! Now in a few weeks, I'll get to sample some fresh Kona coffee while in Hawai'i God I love coffee :)

Oh my

My father commutes about 60-70 miles round-trip 5 days a week from one rural area to another (Norwalk to Mansfield). It can get expensive. The only reason he does commute was because he transferred to GM (about 30 miles away) from Delphi (about 12 miles away). And given Delphi's uncertain future, the commute is well worth it.

Great article! Although I might add that it is kind of sad when these beautiful old century homes/vintage cottages are torn down for McMansions. But then again, I have seen quite a few older homes remodeled and renovated back to their original splendor. Drive down Cedar Point Chausee and you'll see both of these!

As McDonald's would say, I'm lovin' it (the storm clouds, that is :) )

Amen! :clap:

I wasn't being disrespectful. I guess I failed to mention that he told me he drives to Columbus many times each year. Also, my best guess is that he was not older than 60.

Well we're under quarantine because we're infested with the emerald ash borer beatle :( Certain death for nearly all of our ash trees :(

I usually walk with my dog for a mile or so each day. Last summer, I was walking alongside the country road I live on and an older gentleman (I think he was from near Toledo/Ottawa County) pulled up and told me he was driving to Columbus but he couldn't find the right highway or something because of a detour (the only detour that I knew of was Route 99, which isn't a road to Columbus). Anyway, I found out that he had driven almost to the Richland County border (the right direction, south) but somehow he ended up on my road in southern Erie County, travelling north (not towards Columbus :-D ), 20 miles in the wrong direction. It was kind of hard to keep a straight face :-D; hopefully he made it :laugh:

Looks very peaceful! P.S. You can't escape Lorain :-D

You don't want to move to the Duck Pond

Levis Commons.....Fallen Timbers.......Village at Southwyck........Toledo is becoming such a lifestyle center :) .......at least Southwyck is in the city limits!!!! Oh and on a side note, a little riddle: How much timber has to fall for that new Monclova Mall? :(

Well, to be fair, most of Illinois was part of a vast prairie (Great Plains) with very few trees back in the pioneer days and earlier. And when it was settled, prairies soon succumbed to farmland; thus old-growth trees are a luxury in this part of the country (as well as hills)! As for DeKalb not looking like a college town; I think it does in most aspects. The campus is fairly spread out, since we are on the edge of town with nothing but farm fields to the west. Hopefully when I take pictures of downtown as well as the main intersection near campus (Lincoln Highway and Annie Glidden Road, see map) it'll show DeKalb's real personality along with a little grit and grime :) But one can argue, and I would totally agree with them, that DeKalb and its neighboring city Sycamore (which has a gorgeous downtown w/courthouse) is turning very suburban and sprawl-y. http://www.niu.edu/campus_map.html

That building on the cover of the Rural book looked awfully familiar to me. It is on the Milan town square :) Just in case anybody cared :)

I'd love to do some downtown DeKalb photos. Downtown is very interesting; kind of run-down; but there are some treasures, such as the mural and the Egyptian Theatre. I may be able to squeeze some time in on Wednesday afternoon to take photos; but I have to study for finals and get all packed up because I'm coming back home to Ohio on Friday! If I don't get any pics now, I will definitely get some next fall. And thanks for all the nice comments! :-)

Awesome!

As promised, NIU part two! ----- Lowden Hall ----- McMurry Hall ----- Montgomery Hall ----- Music Building ----- Psychology-Computer Science Building (yep, that's the name, very weird combination) Right next to the building ----- Reavis Hall (left), Cole Hall (center), Zulauf Hall (right), Holmes Tower in the background Reavis Hall (left), Zulauf Hall (center), DuSable Hall (right) Watson Hall (left), DuSable Hall (right) Zulauf Hall (aka the giant cereal box) ----- Still Hall Still Hall Gymnasium ----- Swen Parson Hall (college of Law) Walkway over Normal Road that connects to the library ----- Wirtz Hall (it looks better on the inside) ----- Williston Hall ----- Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Commons ----- Larusso Lagoon Looking at the sprawl in the background ----- MISCELLANEOUS Stadium Drive streetscape University Plaza Apartments, as viewed from DuSable Hall Normal Road streetscape Garden Road streetscape Village Commons (two story shopping center with a lot of restaurants) Lucinda Avenue streetscape Lucinda Avenue heading east into town ----- View from my dorm room (11th floor) looking west (nothing but farm fields and the Lincoln Highway) Another view from my room looking south Another view looking east (great view of Holmes Tower and DeKalb) ----- Kishwaukee Park, the eastern limits of campus Kishwaukee River ----- My pictures don't really do NIU justice; this campus is very beautiful and you can only get the full experience by being here in person! Alright, I'm done now; I'm going to bed and then I'm going study for next week's finals tomorrow!

Well, here's my first real picture series post. My specialty and favorite is nature & scenery photos, but I love urban/urbaneque scenes as well. I realize that some of the photos don't have the greatest quality/shots/angles/etc. but hopefully I will be able to perfect my skills in the years to come :-D. It was a nice, sunny, 70 degree Saturday so I decided to get out and finally take some campus pictures! I give you Northern Illinois University, home of the Huskies, competitor in the Mid-American Conference. NIU is located in DeKalb, DeKalb County, Illinois (a fast growing area soon to be considered a far-west Chicago suburb, albeit we are 60 miles west of Chi-town). DeKalb County has an approximate population of 100,000 while NIU has a student population of approximately 25,000. Enjoy! EDIT: I used photobucket as the host; but it shrunk my pictures. The quality looks terrible thanks to photobucket :-( ----- Adams Hall ----- Altgeld Castle ----- Alumni and Visitors Center Sculpture Park Next door is the Oderkirk House and old Milan Township School House ----- Anderson Hall ----- Barsema Hall (the newest building on campus, housing the Business College) Canadian Geese are everywhere! ----- Campus Life Building (also houses the Northern Star campus newspaper, one of the best in the country) ----- Chick Evans Field House ----- A branch of the Kishwaukee River runs through campus ----- Lutheran Ministry Clock Tower ----- Convocation Center (home of Huskie basketball, wrestling, and gymnastics) ----- Davis Hall (houses Geography and Meteorology, where I'll be spending most of my time) Sorry about the sun glare... ----- DuSable Hall (anyone who goes to NIU will more than likely have at least one class here) ----- Castle Drive & East Lagoon Park Unmistakable shadow of Davis Hall's observatory ----- Engineering Building ----- Faraday Hall & Faraday West ----- Founders Memorial Library ----- Gabel Hall (College of Education) Kind of ghetto-looking :) ----- Gilbert Hall (used to be a residence hall) ----- Health Services Building (with the Holmes Student Center Tower in the background) ----- Huskie Stadium ----- Holmes Student Center (the campus landmark; can be seen from Interstate 88) ----- Jack Arends Hall (aka the Art Building) ----- RESIDENCE HALLS Grant Towers & Stevenson Towers (they look the same) Douglas Hall & Lincoln Hall ----- Thanks for looking! More to come..........

And "getting the shaft" is a bad thing? ??? Not always :)

Actually, Apple's is still around with grocery stores in Elyria, Lorain , and Norwalk

Is anyone familiar with the name Cook's? I have searched the internet but have come up with nothing. The building in Norwalk that used to house Cook's is now part of a junkyard (I think the building has been vacant since before I was born, 1985). And of course it is the first thing one sees driving into town on the northside! It is definitely an eyesore that doesn't represent true Norwalk.