Favorite Things about Living in a Small Town {in the Midwest}

I have been listing off ideas in my brain for a few months of the positives of moving back to a small town.  All of my experiences with small towns are in the Midwest, so I don't know if small towns out of the Midwest are the same or not.  In no particular order:

Positives of Small Town Life

• I don't need my GPS to get many places.  I think I used my GPS to get to the grocery store for the first month we lived in Littleton.  And I used my GPS all the time to get anywhere out of the ordinary.  I think I used my GPS for half a day around Paulding and then maybe a week or two to get around Defiance and Van Wert.  There are still times I need to pull it out, but for the most part, I can think of a place and drive there and not need elaborate directions.
• The cost of living is lower.  I am a fairly frugal person so saving money is a big perk for me.  I LOVE that I can get a latte for less than four dollars and that it taste better than my more-than-five-dollar Starbucks.  THE MIDWEST HAS ALDI.  And now it is cool to go to Aldi (unlike when I was a kid and I was so embarrassed that my mom shopped at Aldi).  Our car insurance dropped over $125 per month.  Our rent for a two bedroom house is about half of what our one bedroom apartment was in Englewood.  
• People are friendly.  People acknowledge other people by smiling and saying, "Hi" even if they don't know each other. Strangers will stop and talk to Samuel in stores and try to coax a smile out of him. 
• Related: People are kind.  Receptionists are so much more helpful on the phone (in my opinion).  We are on our third doctor for Samuel (2 in Denver due to insurance changes) and then 1 here.  Instead of handing you a bunch of papers to try to fill out while entertaining an infant, the nurses here ask questions and fill out paperwork for you.  And offer Samuel flavored tongue depressors to play with while asking you questions.  Is it efficient? Probably not, but it is nice.
• People do not drive crazy.
• There are possibly six stoplights in our whole entire town.  I drove through 30 to get to work every day in Denver.
• Folks tend to be more conservative. I am conservative. It is draining to be around liberals who belittle conservatives.  You are welcomed to have an opinion as long as you are open minded to other people having different opinions and being respectful of their opinions.
• Specific to life in Ohio: You can always count on having something flavored "buckeye".  My new favorite latte is a buckeye latte.  My favorite cupcake is also a buckeye.  The rest of America needs to jump on the chocolate + peanut butter bandwagon.  I would suggest the rest of the world needs to jump on the bandwagon but the rest of the world views Americans to be cray-cray for our love of peanut butter, much less peanut butter + chocolate. 
• The Midwest understands how to plow roads AND embraces said understanding. I will take plowed roads with tax payer's salt on them and thus the ensuing potholes over driving in Denver's unplowed streets any day.

Samuel is thankful that we have our own yard with leaves that he can eat any time he wants.

One positive of moving out of Colorado - every time I have smelled skunk, I have seen a skunk (usually dead on the road).  After smelling a whole lotta weed over the last four or five years, I will take the skunks.