7 Things I Miss About Columbus

View of Ohio State with the Columbus skyline in the distance,from the top floor of Ohio State's main library

Each time we revisit Columbus, I wonder why we don't live there anymore.

It's not "home" like Defiance is, but I did spend eight years there. It's where I became an adult. It's where most of my friends -- as well as all of Paul's immediate family -- live.

Of course, I love living in New York. I always tell Paul, however, that when he wants to move back to Columbus, just be sure to ask me right after a trip to Ohio. I'm always ready to move back then. Here's why:

7. Donuts
You've heard me say it before: New York's donuts are crap. But Buckeye Donuts is always sure to have a sickeningly sweet vanilla long john with my name on it.

6. Fried Zucchini Sticks
My favorite appetizer of all time comes from The Blue Danube, a restaurant and bar north of Ohio State in the Clintonville neighborhood. But it's not just the zucchini sticks I crave from Columbus -- it's Graeter's ice cream, Skyline Chili and the Northstar Cafe breakfast burrito. And I don't care what anyone says, Hounddog's Pizza is better than anything you'll find in New York.

5. Ohio State Campus
My memories of campus are many and varied and good. The long days in the journalism building, working at the Lantern. Paul and I meandering around campus when the sun went down almost every night the weather cooperated. Not to mention that Paul proposed to me on the Oval. When we returned for a look around last week, I was shocked at how young the students looked. I wanted to call them "kids."

4. Libraries
Columbus' library system is so much better than New York's. Mostly I just miss the book drops, which seem to be an endangered species in Brooklyn. Visiting Ohio State's beautiful new library made me realize just how much there is to miss.

3. Un-overwhelming Availability
I don't mean underwhelming availability. I mean that Columbus has just the right amount of choices. Sometimes I think of New York as one big restaurant with a 15-page menu. I know that menu includes a lot of choices, but sometimes more isn't better. It's just more. New York can be unnavigable. I know what I like in Columbus, and I know what I want.

2. $3 Beers
And it's not even happy hour! Of course, it's not only the beers that are cheaper. It's nearly everything -- food, haircuts, mortgage/rent. The sticker shock of living in New York has mostly worn off, but it's still a nice surprise to see prices at half that of what I'm now used to.

1. Proximity
In Columbus, it doesn't take two hours to go 10 miles unless there is a rush hour accident that has shut down the interstate. When Paul and I drove to the airport at 5 a.m. Monday morning, accidents shut down two interstates -- both the fastest and second fastest ways to get to Port Columbus from his mom's house. We resorted to the third fastest route and still got there only 5 or 10 minutes after we had planned. Here? In the same amount of time it takes to drive from Columbus to Cincinnati, I may not even be able to leave New York City.