Small Town, USA

Yesterday I traveled to Merrillville, Indiana with my friend Richard to see Anita Baker in concert. I’m not actually a hardcore Anita Baker fan, but Richard clearly is and asked if I’d go with him. So we made the long trek to the heartland (actually only about an hour away) and got there with plenty of time to eat first. Pulling off onto US-30, I noticed that Merrillville resembled every small to medium sized city in the Midwest. Every chain restaurant, big box store, and fast food joint is readily accessible. Faced with entirely too many options, we agreed that there would be no Indiana experience without the Old Country Buffet.

After two full plates and a trip to the sundae bar, we left the native buffeteers and found the Star Plaza Theatre. We were still about an hour early and noticed that the Radisson next door to the venue housed a Starbucks (Radissons are a Midwest staple, as well as ones with a Starbucks). As we walked through the pool area of the hotel (which looked like a mini-golf course), we found our destination. It was at this moment that we met a very nice lady working the Starbucks counter and had a conversation that encapsulated the entire trip. 

Nice Lady: Did you guys travel far?

Us: No, just Chicago

Nice Lady: Oh! well you should have brought your laptops

Us: Oh yeah?

Nice Lady: Yup, we have Wi-Fi you know. 

At the risk of sounding like a liberal elitist, that was probably the cutest and most endearing thing anyone could have said to me in that moment. The rest of the night was filled with smoothness and soul as we listened to Anita Baker wow her Indiana audience. You can see a video of her after the jump. 

And for the record, as much as i make fun of the Midwest and the small-ish towns that make it up, I love it more than you will ever understand.