New word: “Wave-stalgia.” It refers to a wave of nostalgia that sweeps over us when something reminds us of a great thing from the past. Examples might be when I re-read one of my trip reports (most recently Sand Animals, and particularly how glad I was that Jamie came with us.)

Wave-stalgia hit again this morning as I was looking over some of the images I made last summer in Baltimore. Everything was great – the trip to D. C., playing with the grandson, watching Tom’s Blu-Ray Star Wars stuff, dinner at P. F. Chang’s; the list goes on. But my wave-stalgia was for a little café near Tom and Chele’s place called the Bel-Loc Diner.

In 2009, we stayed for almost a week in the Baltimore area when Tom and Chele got married, and our hotel was just across the street from the Bel-Loc. We probably had six or seven meals there. The place was always friendly, the service was always good, the decor was over the top, and the food was… hmm. It’s odd. The food was okay, I guess. It was a little bland, actually.

So I don’t know exactly why I love the Bel-Loc so much. Maybe it just says “good times in Baltimore” in my head.

I thought of all this today as I was plodding though some of my unedited images from our visit to Baltimore this summer. It’s not like me to leave a folder of photos unedited, but this was was cram full of pictures and got repeatedly back-burnered.

So today’s Wave-stalgia is for the Bel-Loc. See you again soon, Dinertown!