My house is on Ridge Rd and it’s fairly easy for me to access all of the businesses and destinations throughout Lansing, Illinois.
If I can’t find a specific store, I can always drive north into Chicago or a few minutes east to hit Hammond, Highland, Black Oak, or Liverpool.
Unlike my 20s, I’m not interested in living in college towns any longer with students wandering into oncoming traffic at the worst moments. This was a problem when I was in Ann Arbor, Michigan as we had University of Michigan students downtown that were frustrating all on their own. But if you drove a few minutes east into Ypsilanti, you’d get close to Eastern Michigan University. Chicago has the famous University of Chicago, Loyola College, DePaul University, University of Illinois, and Northwestern University among dozens of others. I like the quieter forest life in the Lansing suburb, especially being so close to the beautiful Lan-Oak Park on Arcadia Ave. My HVAC company happens to be right next to Lan-Oak Park as well, which means it takes my technician just a matter of minutes to find my house during service calls. I’ve been in this area for so long that my kids love to play on the playground at Lan-Oak Park. Yesterday I took a hike out to Wampum Lake to enjoy a sandwich and a cup of coffee. I love seeing Lake Michigan whenever I visit Chicago or Gary, but I still appreciate small ponds like Wampum Lake for their ambience and quantness. The Great Lakes look like oceans from the coastlines, making each seem like one huge blue abyss.