CHARLOTTE, BUT NORTH – How are you going to send them back to the farm when they’ve seen the bright lights of Canton? And yet we keep going.

This week has been a real highlight, from the Pro Football Hall of Fame to training camp to the airport to head to a preseason game tonight, we’ve lived quite a life these past five days. And what a life it’s been.

While I reserve the right to say more about the Hall in my free time, I promise you I am not being light-hearted when I call it the happiest place on earth. I truly believe it. People at Disney are unhappy, especially parents. It’s expensive, there are long lines, and the chance of showing up in a Julius Peppers jersey and seeing Julius Peppers walk by is very slim, as a few Panthers fans enjoyed Sunday morning. Moments earlier, three Broncos fans in bright orange Randy Gradishar jerseys had stopped Randy Gradishar himself as he was about to hang his bust on the wall. Gradishar had an appointment, but shrugged, said “Sure,” and took a photo with them. It was surreal. And in Canton, this sort of thing happens a lot.

No one is angry in the Hall. None of the world’s bad crosses the Stark County border. When you’re there, you celebrate excellence. Who wouldn’t want to be part of that? We even got to poke around in the basement, and there are some real treasures down there, like original Commissioner Bert Bell’s desk (complete with cigar burn marks), a box of hair sent by a recent inductee because he thought the Hall might like it (OK, cool), gold jackets in dry cleaners’ bags, and a game-worn Luke Kuechly jersey that might come in handy soon.

For all these reasons and more, I’m currently scouting vacation properties in the Canton area (there’s even a Bojangles, just off Everhard Road). And the people are warm and friendly and welcoming, and you can eat at the same restaurant where the League’s founders ate after taking care of business at Ralph Hay’s Hupmobile dealership. Is it Manhattan, or even Charlotte? No. But it also has a cozy airport (CAK was voted the No. 1 airport in categories II-IV by the TSA), and the walk from the farthest gate (Gate 9, not E9, just 9) is airy and light-filled, and there’s a vending machine that dispenses free short stories you can read on a piece of paper the size of a CVS receipt. Your rental car could be anywhere from 20 to 50 feet from the airport gate. Again, no one is upset.

Now we’re traveling to New England for a preseason game during a hurricane. Wish us luck. We were in Canton recently, so maybe we’ll have some of the magic left to speed up our trip via Charlotte-Douglas International.