List is long for things residents love about Naperville

Naperville is judged by national media to be one of the best places to live in the United States.

I remain amazed by that. Considering cities over 100,000, we came in second out of the entire country. Not too shabby.

What's that mean to us who live here? What's your favorite thing about Naperville?

When asked that, respondents didn't stop at one answer.

Bob Merrill, who moved to south Naperville 10 years ago from Boston, is married and a father of teens. His favorite Naperville moment is attending a concert at Ribfest, sitting on a blanket with friends and family under the summer stars, eating ribs and listening to music.

His "good things" list includes the combination of quiet neighborhoods and a vibrant downtown, and an overabundance of activities for kids. He says Naperville is small enough to see people you know when you're out and about, but big enough to occasionally provide anonymity.

Bob works in downtown Chicago, and praises Naperville's train service. He holds a downtown Naperville train station parking pass and often carpools with neighbors to his parking spot there. "It took many years to get," he says.

Sam Donatell of north Naperville has lived here 31 years. She enjoys the small-town atmosphere coupled with big-town benefits. "I don't have to go to Oak Brook to shop," she says.

Ginger Boyce, a well-known face behind the counter at Naperville Tennis Club, was born here. She spent years moving elsewhere at a corporation's behest, and has now been re-settled in Naperville for a decade.

When house hunting, she sought a place with a center, a town with a downtown core.

"Very few places have a downtown. That's something I really like. And Naperville has neighborhoods, too," says Ginger, who lives in the Fonteneau area.

"There are a lot of things to do. You don't have to set up activities for your kids. There are a lot of community-based programs."

I agree with all of the above. I love the juxtaposition of city pleasures with country beauty that our suburban subdivision provides. Neighbors and friends are close and Naperville's downtown shopping and restaurants are deliciously deluxe, yet our backyard harbors surprising wildlife.

The first time we moved here, in 1999, I was put off by Naperville's newness. We had moved from Shaker Heights, Ohio, a beautiful 1920s suburb of Cleveland that was dotted with placid lakes, huge elms and oaks. I was all too ready to view our spec house in our Naperville subdivision as raw and barren.

But I was wrong. Within a few weeks, an ancient and huge snapping turtle that's lived for decades in Clow Creek made an appearance. Clow, which winds through our backyard, brings crawdad and clam, minnow and water-strider. Wild iris and liatris bloom on its banks.

Its snakes and little fishes draw the high-stepping white egret and pterodactyl-like blue heron. Honking V's of geese pass overhead, a coyote howls and, in the blue spruce 10 feet from our bedroom window, an owl hoots at night.

Once you start, the "good things" list quickly grows.

There's the Springbrook Prairie Forest Preserve path. That's excellent on a bike on a burnished autumn afternoon, or on cross-country skis on a frigid winter morning.

There's the 95th Street Library. I love its cool, modern interior and the care and thought put into the blooming pots by the entry.

I love its exterior architecture. The way its roofline echoes and honors the barn it replaced. I love that the builders saved the venerable elm that used to front the barn and now shelters library goers with its graceful drooping branches.

Taken all together, it's enough to make you forget the traffic.

• Cheryl Stritzel McCarthy lives in south Naperville with her husband, three daughters, and the occasional snapping turtle. E-mail her at otbfence@hotmail.com.