Friday Five: location, location, location

SingingOwl writes over at RGBP...
My daughter, her husband, and their toddler, Trinity Ann, are moving from Minneapolis, Minnesota to our place. It's a long story, but the short version is that they will be loading a Ryder truck on Saturday, and on Sunday afternoon we will unload it into a storage unit in our town. They will move themselves, their two cats and their BIG dog into our place. Yes, there will be issues, but this Friday Five isn't really about that. (Prayers for jobs for them and patience for all of us are most welcome, however.) This post is about locations. My husband has lived at 64 addresses in his life so far (16 with me) and he suggested the topic since we have moving trucks on our minds.
Therefore, tell us about the five favorite places you have lived in your lifetime. What did you like? What kind of place was it? Anything special happen there?

Hmm...I did a quick count and it appears that I've lived at 16 addresses in my 28 years.  One I don't remember because I was a baby.  Three more before I turned 10.  Three more between age 10 and graduating from high school.  5 during college (including the sojourn in Scotland).  2 during seminary (not including the house where I didn't technically live...).  2 since seminary.  What are my favorites?  again I say, hmm....

in no particular order...

40660 Edwards Drive

This is my grandparents' house.  I lived here with my mom and brother for about 3 years when I was growing up.  My grandparents raised sheep.  We had a garden, in which I got to plant "whatever I wanted" one year. Somehow I planted corn (which never even sprouted), carrots (which I don't even like) and beets (which I like even less).  Interesting...  This is where my mom led our CampFire Girls group.  This is where I learned to climb trees and pick blackberries and sit on sheep so their feet could be tied for shearing.  (well, okay, I sucked at that last job, running off screaming whenever my sheep chair wiggled...)  I don't go visit now, really, though my grandparents still live here on 40 gorgeous acres.  Once we moved to the city, I looked back on my farm experience without much fondness.  But now that I'm older, I recognize the value of being out in the quiet with very few neighbors nearby, of the community feel even though the houses are far apart, and the beauty of the place.  And I think I recognize more of the value of the lessons I learned on the farm than I realized before.

312 W. Wisconsin #3

I lived in this apartment for two years in college, with Jenny.  It was sort of ghetto (we realize now) and it was quite small.  The hardwood floors were pretty, but we didn't have doors on our kitchen cupboards.  The laundry room downstairs was scary.  Jenny's room was weirdly shaped.  But there was lots of fun had here!  We practiced (or, well, Jenny did), we watched Dawson's Creek and Felicity after clarinet choir rehearsals, we bemoaned the existence of piano guy, we joked about ordering pizza from the place across the street and just waving out the window when they asked where to deliver it.  It was a good time.  And oh the number 11 and 151 buses....

MacLeod Centre, Iona, Argyll, Scotland

I LOVED living in the Mac.  Even though there were 4 of us sharing a room (and 5 at one point!) and 12-15 sharing a bathroom, we had a great time.  We laughed and played and painted and whiskey tasted in our common room, we worked hard during the day and partied hard at night.  We prayed.  We lived in "intentional Christian community" and it was fabulous.  I loved nearly everything about the months I spent living on this island.  There are many days I wish I could move back.  And if this election goes badly, well....let's just say it looks more attractive every day.

1610 King Street

This was the weirdest house I think I've ever lived in.  The bedrooms had color themes--there was a blue room, a red room, and a gold (umm, yellow) room.  There was hideous shag-esque carpet and matching paint and curtains in each of these rooms.  Mine was the yellow.  (sigh)  This is the house where we first housed minor league baseball players.  The first year we lived here I was bitter about moving out of the good city, across the mountains to lame middle-of-nowhere-town-that-grows-apples.  I walked to school sometimes because the bus stop was more than halfway to the school.

I actually think this might be a tie with the other Yak house, 109 N. 15th Ave, because on 15th I got to have the whole basement to myself most of the time.  That house also has lots of character, with little niches in random walls, an arch between the living room and dining room, and a weird unknown space behind my bedroom wall.  I also got to paint my bedroom here--I had a painting party my sophomore year of high school.  My friends came over and we used different shaped sponges and different shades of green paint.  When we were done, the room looked sort of like  the jungle.  Awesome.

847 Chasefield Lane #3

This is where I live now.  It's "my first house"--the condo I bought when I moved here.  I get to experience all the joys of home ownership (I get to change my floors if I want, paint, deal with the appliances etc, have pets, control my own heat, replace broken stuff like cat-clawed-window-screens) and none of the responsibilities of a free-standing house in the midwest (I don't shovel snow or mow grass or prune trees or plant flowers).  It's perfect for me since it's 2 bed/2 bath--when people come visit, I have a place for them to sleep but no need to share my bathroom.  There's room for my crazy cats.  The location is great--a quiet neighborhood with mostly retired neighbors, 10 minutes from church, 10 minutes from grocery stores, 10 minutes from the library, 10 minutes from the gym.  The downside, of course, of any suburban living experience is dependence on a car.  There's almost nothing within walking distance of my house.  I miss that about living in the city.  But I have a garage to store extra winter food and to keep snow off my car, I can repaint anytime I feel like it, I can stick my clothes in the dryer for 5 minutes to warm them up before I put them on (a luxury in winter!).  It's great.  :-)

Okay, so I actually did 6, but whatever.  :-)  I could just as easily list my 5 or 6 LEAST favorites!  (I don't even remember the addresses, but all three of the OTHER places I lived during college would make that list for various reasons--roommate issues, noise problems, bugs, neighbors, location, tuckpointing that took 6 months and blew dust in my window every day, etc.)  fun!

What are your 5 favorite places you've lived?